Don't Forget Me
by skyflower51
Summary: One moment Ianto is dying in Jack's arms, the next, he's not. How and why is he still alive, and where is he? Trying to find the answers could cost him his life. Even if he survives, will he ever find Jack again?
1. Awakening

Don't Forget Me

Chapter One- Awakening

Ianto was tired, so tired. The world was fuzzy, falling away beneath him, and his vision was beginning to blur. The pain from the virus eating away at his life was more of a dull ache now than the stabbing agony it had been before. The pain he felt now was no longer a physical pain, but a heart-wrenching sorrow, sorrow for Jack, who he was leaving alone. Jack, who he loved, Jack, who was immortal, Jack, who was watching him die. Ianto tried his hardest to fight off the black mist trying to smother him, but there was no stopping it. It moved in to consume him, him and everything he had thought that he knew. As if from a great distance away, he heard- or thought he heard- Jack's voice, calling out to him, pleading, begging him to stay with him, but try as he might Ianto could not stop himself from falling… falling into blackness and silence. A black wave crashed over him and dragged him down into nothingness, and he knew no more.

He opened his eyes.

White. Everything was white. Everything, utterly everything, blinding, piercing, snowy white. For an absurd moment, he wondered if this was heaven. _But if this is heaven, _he thought, _why can't I move? _He hazarded a glance down. He was lying on a sort of cross between a table and a bed and a chair. Metal clamps held him down by his wrists and ankles. For an awful moment, he thought it was a cyber-conversion unit. It was in the same style. But it wasn't. He didn't know what it was, but at least it wasn't a cyber-conversion unit. That was a plus, even if nothing else was. He was no longer in his own clothes, but in a plain white short sleeved tunic and trousers, the sort of thing you might wear in a hospital. He suddenly felt a spark of hope. Maybe he had not died after all, simply lost consciousness. Maybe Jack had brought him to a hospital. He didn't feel ill at all. Maybe the virus had been cured? He wasn't dead, that was for sure.

'No, I'm afraid he's dead,' came a voice from behind him.

Or then again, maybe it wasn't.

'Blast! And it was all going so well,' came a second.

'We could send down another,' suggested First Voice. 'There are plenty of subjects out there.'

'No point. He won't fall for anyone after this one. It would be pointless,' Second Voice growled. 'And we can't make another avatar of him, because he would be bound to smell a rat after he watched him die.'

'Will he realise it's an avatar?'

'Hopefully not. Even if he does, I doubt he knows what the Flesh is.'

'He's from the fifty-first century. He'll probably know.'

'It makes no difference,' Second Voice replied coldly.

'So what should we do with the original? Kill him?'

'Don't be such a fool! He's priceless to us. We still might be able to use him, somehow. Keep him under sedation for now.'

Ianto tried to twist around and see who was speaking, but the clamps held him firmly in place. He struggled against them, but he couldn't get away. What were these people talking about? Avatars? The original? The Flesh? As he redoubled his efforts, he felt something cold in his right arm. Turning his head, he saw that a thin tube led into it from the wall. He could feel an icy liquid flowing into it through the tube. He had only just registered it when a dark fog clouded his brain and everything went black.

Ianto opened his eyes again. He was still in the same room, still clamped to the table-bed-chair thing. This time, however, there was a man standing over him, a man with grey hair perfectly gelled in place without a single stray hair. He was dressed in a crisp white coat, like a doctor or a scientist. Adjusting his half-moon spectacles, the man leaned in and looked at Ianto in much the same way as a hungry cat looks at a helpless baby mouse before pouncing on it.

'Who are you?' Ianto's voice was husky, as if he hadn't used it in days.

'Harman,' the man replied. His voice was as crisp and neat as his coat and hair. Ianto recognised it as the first voice he had heard when he had woken up the first time.

'Harman?'

'That's right, Ianto. Harman. Please don't ask whether it's my surname or my first name, because it's both. I'm just Harman.'

Ianto didn't bother asking how this man knew his name. 'What is this place? What do you want with me? And where's Jack?'

'You know,' Harman said, sounding slightly amused, 'back in the surveillance room, we took bets on what your first questions would be, and you've just won me a hundred and twelve credits. I had strong suspicions that those would be them, although I didn't necessarily get them in the right order.'

'Shut up,' Ianto snapped hoarsely. 'Just answer them.'

'How am I supposed to answer your very good and reasonable questions and shut up at the same time?' Harman asked, raising one eyebrow.

Ianto's eyes smouldered with rage. Harman raised his hands, gesturing for him to calm down. 'I'm afraid I can't answer most of those questions. You're in the Eternity Experimental Facility. EEF for short.'

'Telling me the name doesn't tell me where I am,' Ianto growled.

'True, true.' The man's smile was now that of a wolf. 'But I can't tell you, Ianto Jones. It's dangerous for you to know too much. We aren't finished with you yet. We won't be finished with you until we've finished with your friend… Jack, I believe his name is.'

'Where is he?' Ianto strained against the clamps that bit painfully into his wrists and ankles. 'Where is he? What have you done with him?'

Harman was still smiling as he turned and spoke into thin air. 'I think it would be better for our little friend the Welshman to go back to sleep.'

'Roger that,' came a voice, perhaps through a loudspeaker.

_They're going to sedate me again, _Ianto thought. 'Don't you dare! What have you done with Jack? Where is he! _Tell me!'_

Harman simply stood there, smiling his evil smile. The tranquilliser entered Ianto's arm and quickly spread to his brain. He was still fighting to get at Harman when sleep overcame him.

Afterwards, Ianto was never sure how long he lay there, drifting in and out of the drug-induced sleep. Occasionally he would wake to find Harman standing over him, or sometimes someone different. Often it was a woman with white hair pulled back behind her head into a perfect ponytail and the same cold smile and flawless appearance as Harman. They hardly ever spoke, just looked at him as if he was a scientific experiment- something to be studied and examined and inspected. It might have been days, it might have been weeks, it might have been months or even years. And then the day came when he woke up to find himself no longer clamped to the table.

He stood up, staggering slightly, unaccustomed to the sudden regained use of his limbs. He turned slowly on the spot, surveying the room he was now in. White. What a surprise. That made a change, not. There were no furnishings of any sort. It was a cube-shaped room, with sides about four metres long. Just four plain white walls and a ceiling. Four white walls and him.

He sat down in a corner, hugging his knees into his chest. Several minutes went by. He closed his eyes and tried to find some explanation for this. Why was he here? Where was 'here' anyway? However hard he tried to find an answer, all he ever got was more questions. He was hungry and thirsty and scared and confused and he desperately missed Jack. In the end he just buried his head in his hands and cried.

He must have been there for some hours when there was a hissing sound. He glanced up. One of the walls suddenly slid back a little way, forming a doorway. Through it he could see a corridor, as plain and white as his cell. A figure stepped through the door, a figure with a funny shaped arched hat and long white robes appeared, carrying a tray. Its head was lowered, and its weird headdress prevented Ianto from seeing its face. It turned around and touched a point on the wall outside the door, before withdrawing its hand. The door drew back in place, becoming part of the wall again, with not a single sign that it had ever been there. The figure turned around.

Instantly Ianto was on his feet and staring at the creature's face. 'You're-'

'I brought food,' it said shyly, ducking its head.

'You're- you're a _cat_,' Ianto said, staring in amazement.

'And if I am?' it asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Well- I- you- well, you're just a _cat_,' Ianto stammered.

'And you're a human,' the cat replied.

All right. Cat person. Ianto could take that.

'I'm afraid it's only soup, but better than nothing, I suppose,' the cat said quickly, laying the tray down on the floor.

'I'm not hungry,' Ianto lied.

'Oh.' The cat clasped her paws together, as if uncertain of what to do.

'Who are you?' Ianto asked, sensing that the cat seemed quite a bit friendlier than Harman or the woman.

'Novice Jilani. Trainee healer of the Sisters of Plenitude,' she replied.

'Novice!' came a voice from over a hidden speaker. 'If you've quite finished chin-wagging with the prisoner, there's work to be done!'

'Yes, Matron Catra,' the cat replied quietly, turning back to the wall that concealed the door. It slid open. Jilani stepped outside, gave Ianto a look that could have meant anything. Pity? Unhappiness? And was that- guilt? But the wall glided back into place, hiding the young cat-person from view.

Ianto glanced down at the soup, which didn't look particularly appetizing. Despite what he'd told Jilani, he was hungry; in fact he was starving. But accepting anything from these people, whoever they were, would seem like weakness, like giving in. Eventually he surrendered to his hunger. It tasted better than it looked. A little.

Alone again, Ianto resumed his place in the corner. It seemed that that was what his life had become. Sitting in a corner, waiting. Waiting for whatever tomorrow would bring; salvation, torment, an explanation, or just more confusion.

Ianto closed his eyes. It was a relief to slide into sleep, a deep and natural one. He dreamed of the times he'd spent with Jack, from capturing the pterodactyl to those final moments in that room, facing the 456. He dreamed of the wonderful moment when Jack came back from the dead after Abbadon killed him. He dreamed of the time Jack asked him out on their first date. He dreamed of every moment of happiness and joy they'd had together. In the middle of all the loneliness and fear he'd experienced since arriving here, the beautiful dream was like a beacon of light in a sea of darkness, a ray of light that promised hope.

_Don't give up, _a voice said, maybe one in his dream, maybe his own sub-consciousness speaking to him. _There is still hope. There is always hope._


	2. Escape

Chapter Two- Escape

Ianto was suddenly and rudely awoken from the wonderful dream by a hand shaking his arm.

'Get up!' hissed a frightened, urgent voice. 'Get up! You have to run!'

'Wha-?' Ianto shook his head to try and clear it. The person gripping his arm pulled him upright. He looked at the face in surprise.

'Novice Jilani?'

The cat hurried to the door and gestured frantically for him to follow. 'Please, hurry! I've disabled the cameras and the microphones. But they'll realise soon and send someone to check and if they find me helping you escape we're both dead! Now you have to trust me! Please!'

Ianto ran out of the cell but didn't make any move to follow her. 'How do I know I can trust you?'

'How can I make you trust me?' she replied, trying but failing miserably to sound calm.

'I want answers,' Ianto said flatly. 'I want to know how I got here, and why I'm not dead, and what you people want with me, and where this place is, and I want to know what you've done with Jack.'

'Please!' Jilani burst out, looking over her shoulder as if expecting to see Harman and the others descending upon her at any moment. 'We don't have time! You've got to get out of here!'

Ianto folded his arms. 'I'm not moving an inch until you answer me.'

Jilani closed her eyes and screwed up her face as if this statement was physically causing her pain. She gave an exclamation of frustration. 'All right! I'll tell you, but then you have to promise to follow me!'

'OK. So how did I get here?'

'You've been here months,' Jilani replied. She kept glancing around, ready to run at the first sign of trouble. 'The EEF took you... well, I don't know the date, but it was shortly before you met Martha Jones. There was a- situation- not long before , that proved to them that if there was one person for whom Captain Jack Harkness would go to the ends of the earth to save, it was you.'

'What was that?'

'I can't tell you. You erased it from your own memories so that it might never put you in danger. I can't explain now, there's no time. But they took you and made a Flesh avatar of you. Sort of like a clone, except when your consciousness is inside your Doppelganger- ganger for short- you truly believe, unless you already know about it, that you are there. All the time you thought you were with Torchwood, with your friend Jack, you were actually here.'

More questions flooded Ianto's mind. He pushed them down and asked the most pressing one. 'And where is here, exactly?'

'New Earth, the year five billion and fifteen. You're not far from the city of New Cardiff.'

_New Earth? Five billion and fifteen? New Cardiff?_

'And why do they want me?'

'It's because of Captain Harkness.' Jilani sounded distraught. 'I only just found out why they wanted you, why there brought you here, why they made a ganger of you… it's because… because…' She took a deep breath and pulled herself together. 'They want his immortality. They want to be able to live forever, like him. They made a ganger of you in the hope that he would reveal to you the secret of his immortality. They planned to return the real you, destroy your ganger, and become immortal themselves, without harming any of you.'

'So why did they bring me here?'

'They didn't. Well, they did at first, using a temporal shift transmit device or something like that, but when your ganger died your consciousness was transferred back to your real body. They couldn't make another ganger because Harkness would never believe that you could still be alive. So this morning, they changed the plan. They plan to- to-'

'To what?' Ianto asked. Jilani looked as if she was about to burst into tears. 'Jilani. Tell me. What's their plan?'

Jilani took another deep breath. 'Jack Harkness is here, on New Earth. He's been travelling through time and space for some time, and they believe he's now in New Cardiff. They plan to capture him and…' She closed her eyes as if trying to shut out the truth. 'They plan to threaten to kill you of he does not give them the secret of immortality.' Her eyes flew open. 'But I'm not helping them, I promise! My mother died of sickness and I wanted to become a healer to prevent it from happening to others! I am one of the Sisters of Plenitude, not an EEF worker! I was transferred here to aid them in the medical side of their work. The pay is good, so I did not argue. I have had a better, easier life since I started working here.'

Ianto also took a deep breath. 'OK. So if that's the case, why are you helping me escape?'

Jilani was seriously in danger of crying now, but she sniffed, blinked back her tears and looked at him bravely and defiantly. 'Because I never took the Healer's Oath in order to help evil ones indulge their greed through the pain and suffering of others. I knew what they were doing was wrong right from the start, from the moment they took you, but I was weak and cowardly and did not speak out. But I can remain silent no longer. This ruthless cruelty is unjust. It's unjust and evil and wrong wrong _wrong!' _She stamped her hind paw like a child in a tantrum, then looked up at Ianto. 'Do you believe me?'

He closed his eyes. Putting his trust in Jilani could be dangerous. If his trust was misplaced, it could mean his death. But he had no other option.

'I believe you,' he said quietly.

'Oh, thank you!' Jilani grabbed his hand in her paw. 'Now, when I say run, run. RUN!'

She was much stronger than she looked, pulling Ianto off balance and nearly onto the floor as she took off. They raced through the facility, Jilani leading the way, down stairs and through doorways and along corridors. It was as they were halfway down a staircase that the voice came from over the speaker system.

'Attention all personnel. Prisoner number 019 has escaped. Seal the exits. Repeat, attention all personnel. Prisoner number 019 has escaped. Seal the exits.'

Jilani gasped with horror.

'They didn't mention you,' Ianto hissed at her. 'They don't know you're involved. Do you have a security pass for the exits?'

Jilani nodded, blank terror on her face.

'Then let's go. We can still get out of this.'

They ran. They seemed to have been running forever, and yet, when Jilani finally ground to a halt and unlocked a final door with a swipe card hidden within her robes, Ianto was hardly out of breath.

'Quickly!' Jilani gasped and shoved him through the door. A burst of cold, clean outside air blasted him in the face. Jilani pulled the door shut and locked it again with her card. They kept running. Ianto followed Jilani as she led him across a stretch of grassland. It was a wide, open prairie, situated in a valley with rolling green hills on either side of it. A dust track led directly through the centre. Along it the trainee healer cat from New Earth and the Torchwod agent human from Wales ran, hand in paw, running for their lives and their freedom, getting dust stains all over the hems of their white clothing. But they were going fast enough. They were going to make it.

But they weren't.

They heard their pursuers before they saw them. The shouts, the heavy pounding of feet, it echoed around the grassland like someone beating a gong. Spinning around, they saw three soldiers in white uniform running towards them, with the tall figures of Harman, the woman and another cat-person Ianto didn't recognise, walking calmly behind them.

Jilani let go of Ianto's hand and gave him a push. 'Go.'

He shook his head. 'I can't just leave you.'

'Yes, you can, and you will,' she snapped. She rolled up the sleeves of her robe and unsheathed her long, retractable, dangerous-looking claws. 'I can hold them off for long enough for you to make it to the river. When you reach it, jump in and swim downstream- that's to the right- until you reach the hills. The current is fast enough for you to easily outpace that lot, and it's not too deep. When you've gone through the hills, you'll find a stream branching off from the river to your left. Follow it and you'll find New Cardiff. Your friend Jack will be there, somewhere.'

'Jilani-'

'Just GO!' she shouted, pushing him again. 'I'm happy to die for the right cause. I hope you find your friend.'

Ianto looked into her eyes. 'Thank you.'

She smiled bravely, fighting back tears again. 'Good luck. If by some miracle I survive… I hope we meet again.'

'Yeah. Me too.'

They stood there for a moment, then Jilani turned, hitched up her long skirts, and ran at their attackers, her face twisted into a vicious snarl and her claws glinting in the sunlight. Ianto also turned and ran, towards the sun rising at the far end of the grassland.

Shrieks, shouts and snarls came from behind him, but Ianto didn't stop. He kept running. He kept running despite his fatigue and exhaustion, despite his hunger and thirst and his worry over Jilani, who had been so brave. He hoped beyond hope that she made it. She was outnumbered, six to one, but there was a chance, a chance in a million, that she survived. 'There's always hope,' he said to himself. He kept running.

Tired, frightened, lost and alone, in a strange place in a strange time on a strange planet, yet still with hope, Ianto Jones, agent of Torchwood Three, ran, and ran, and ran.


	3. River

Chapter Three- River

The river. He had to find the river. That had been Jilani's first instruction. Find the river. He was an OK swimmer- not brilliant, but confident. Keep going. Find the river.

He could see it up ahead, a ribbon of silver light snaking its way through the lush greenery of the plain. Sunlight was glittering on the water. He was nearly there. He glanced back. He couldn't see the soldiers following him- the long grass hid them from view. That was both a blessing and a curse. They couldn't see him, but he didn't know how far ahead of them he was. Find the river.

'Forget the girl! It's the man we want!' Harman's voice was as dark and icy and wrathful as Ianto had ever heard it and a shiver ran through him. He couldn't be far away now. Yes! There it was, only a few metres ahead. He sprinted the last short distance and hurled himself into the water.

He hit the river with more of a smash than a splash, water going everywhere- his eyes, his mouth… he kicked for the surface and his head broke the water. The current was strong as Jilani had promised, already carrying him away downstream without him having to even try to keep afloat. The water was clear and fresh, not brown and muddy like so many rivers back on Earth. Movement caught his eye, and he suddenly grabbed hold of a patch of water weed to stop the river from taking him any further. Up where he had dived in, he could see the uniformed men approaching, still on the dust track. They reached the river. Ianto ducked behind the rushes, but he needn't have worried. The men didn't even look his way. They splashed into the river, waded across, then leaped out the other side, sopping wet, and going the wrong way. He had to supress a cheer, knowing they'd hear it, and had to be content with grinning like a maniac. But… his smile dropped. If Harman and his men were still coming, that meant… Jilani… she had to be dead. He bit his lip. He'd only known her for a few hours, but… she had been so courageous, and everything she'd done, she'd done it for him.

He let go of the rushes and the river took him again. He let it control him, taking him with it as it flowed towards safety. He didn't know where it would take him, but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind. The water seemed different to water on Earth, more buoyant. He was able to lie on his back and go with the flow without sinking.

With nothing else to do, Ianto decided to see how many of Jilani's instructions he could remember. 1- Get to the river. He'd done that. 2- Go downstream. Yes, he was doing that now. 3- Go through the hills until he found a stream on his left. Well, the hills were a few miles away. It shouldn't take long, if he kept up this speed. 4- Follow the stream until he reached New Cardiff.

And then what? Jilani has said that Jack would be there, but was she right? If so, why was he there? And how was Ianto to find him? Jack would be one man in hundreds, maybe thousands. Even if he did make it to New Cardiff, would he ever find Jack?

Ianto shoved the question from his mind. He'd cross that bridge when he came to it. No point troubling himself for no reason. Not yet, anyway. For now he'd just go with the river.

The river was swift and carefree, quick as a bird, strong as a bear, eager as a child. Regardless of rock and weed and rapids, it sped forwards, pressing onwards towards the sea. Ianto grinned as it started to weave around a hill. A hill was good. And after the hills, the stream that led to New Cardiff, and, hopefully, Jack.

A brightly coloured bird, blue and silver, landed on a rock a little way ahead and sang out a cheerful, lilting melody. A fish with bronze-coloured scales flashed around the riverbed. It was hard to imagine that such evil as the EEF could exist in such a beautiful place. Why did they want to be immortal? Jack had said a thousand times that his immortality was more of an ordeal than anything else. Something that he endured because he had no other choice. He saw all his friends, everyone he loved, die around him, and he had to keep going, never looking back, because if he did, his heart would break. He remembered how Jack had told him about the year that never was. The year in which he'd been kept prisoner by the Master. The Master had enjoyed tormenting him. Ianto clenched his fists just thinking about it. He'd killed Jack, for fun, again and again… he'd made his life a misery. 'Sometimes,' Jack had told him, 'the only thing that kept me sane was the knowledge that I had to keep going, so that I could come back to you. Those times that he called me a monster and a freak, I'd think of you. Your voice with those brilliant Welsh vowels and your smile. It gave me the strength to keep going.'

It made Ianto angry just that anyone could call Jack a monster or a freak. Even someone as insane and evil as the master. Jack wasn't a monster, he was just… different. And he hadn't chosen to be that way. He never asked to be unique. He had no choice in the matter. He was immortal, that was that, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Why would anyone want to live the same life as Jack, with all that hardship and suffering? Jack had admitted to him once that there were times when he doubted if he was even human.

'Of course you're human!' Ianto had exclaimed.

'But am I, though? There's never been anyone like me. There was never meant to be anyone like me. Let's face it; I'm a freak. I'm not even a proper living thing; I'm just a breathing ball of time. I'm an impossibility, I can't exist. I shouldn't exist. But I do. What does that make me?'

Ianto remembered looking directly into Jack's eyes. 'Don't ever call yourself a freak. Don't you dare call yourself a freak. You're human, Jack. Someone's past and any… _conditions_ they might have aren't what makes a man. The only things that count are who you are and what you do. So don't you call yourself a freak, Captain Jack Harkness. I won't allow it.'

Jack had smiled. 'Ianto Jones… I wish the rest of the universe thought like you.'

Yes. Ianto did too. Maybe then he wouldn't be here now, trying to find Jack in time to warn him that a load of maniacs were trying to steal his immortality.

_But if they weren't, _a little voice in his mind reminded him, _you'd be dead._

It was too confusing to think about. So he didn't.

Hills and rocks and rushed sped past. Until finally he saw it, the stream. Good. He was starting to have enough of this river. He pulled himself out of the river and onto the bank.

For some time he sat there, letting the sun dry him off. Then he stood up and started the trek alongside the stream. Hours passed, he grew tired, but no city appeared.

And then it did. Looming up on the horizon like a silver beast crouching on the plains, the city of New Cardiff sparkled in the sun. It was built next to a bay, like the first Cardiff, but with the sunlight and the distance between him and it, Ianto couldn't really tell much else. But if Jack was here, and Jilani had seemed certain that he was, that was where he would be. So that was where Ianto had to go.

It was weird. Since he'd escaped, it seemed like all he'd done with his life was run, swim and now walk. It was definitely getting tedious. Agonisingly so. He kept going, pushing his way through a patch of long grass.

Some ancestral instinct prickled in the back of his mind, and told him to turn around.

He did so, and his stomach did a back flip. They were hardly visible, white specks against the blue sky and green grass, but they were definitely there. Soldiers. Three. From the EEF. _Stupid! _he yelled at himself. _Thinking you'd got away from them! You let your guard down! They've caught you up!_

And so he ran, again. He knew that the soldiers had seen him, were giving chase, because of the shouts and the pounding of feet. But fear made him fast. He had to get to the city. Then he could disappear down an alley or something. It wasn't far. But it seemed like miles, miles of painful running and running and running and absolutely nothing else.

It seemed like years before he finally arrived at the city, and even then he didn't stop running. He dodged through crowds, underneath what looked suspiciously like flying cars, around the city like a cat trying to escape from an extremely persistent dog. Well, more like a cat trying to escape from three extremely persistent dogs with guns.

Ianto kept running. Maybe that was all life was now, just trying to escape. He ran around the corner of a backstreet and collided head-on with a man coming the other way, knocking them both to the ground.

'Hey, watch it!'

'Sorry, sorry!' Ianto gasped, leaping up and preparing to go on running.

Then he froze.

The man, who had stood up and was dusting off his long coat, also froze.

It was only a single second, but it was one of those seconds that seems to refuse to pass, that drags on for years and years, freezing time and making the world stand still. Then, with a jolt, the world started turning again and time restarted and Ianto said the name.

'Jack.'

Silence. It went on and on and on. Jack stared at him, frowning as if trying to figure something out.

'Jack. Please. Please don't say you've forgotten me. You promise you'd never forget.'

Ianto, looking into his friend's eyes, could see something click in his brain, could see the realisation hit. Jack spoke, slowly and tentatively, as if afraid that if he said it out loud, it would cease to be true.

'_Ianto?'_

A smile broke over Ianto's face for what seemed like the first time in years, and he nodded.

The sound of running feet startled him as the soldiers rounded the corner. They stopped, seeing them both. The lead one's eyes flitted from Jack to Ianto, then he stepped forwards, a triumphant sneer on his face.

'Harkness,' he said to Jack, making the word sound like an accusation.

'Found you at last, Ianto Jones,' another smirked, aiming his gun at Ianto.

'You're not getting away again,' the third jeered, a cruel smile playing around his lips.

Jack hissed into Ianto's ear. 'Hold onto me. Don't let go for anything.'

Ianto, confused, took hold of Jack's arm. Jack glared at the three men facing them.

'You'll take him over my dead body,' he snarled.

'But you can't die,' one soldier pointed out.

Jack smirked. 'Exactly.'

With that, he lunged for his wrist strap. His hand smacked down on the buttons. The soldier's eyes widened but it was too late. As they moved forwards, they were met with empty air. Jack and Ianto were gone, vanished in a burst of glowing energy.

Silence fell in the street in New Cardiff.

'Er… what now?' one of the soldiers asked, staring in a rather stupid way at the place where the two men had disappeared.

'Return to base,' growled the leader. 'We'll find them, but we'll need the right equipment.'

Grumbling, the other soldiers holstered their guns and turned to leave. The lead soldier remained where he was, looking at the place where Jack and Ianto had been seconds before.

'I'll find you,' he vowed, his voice a tense snarl. 'I was offered so much to find you. And I will. You think you're so great, just because you can't die, but I'll show you. When I'm immortal, you'll see. Make the most of the time you have left, 'cause it won't be long. Even if it takes me the rest of my life- I'll find you, Harkness!'


	4. Reunion

Chapter Four- Reunion

Ianto had never before had the misfortune to have to travel by way of Vortex Manipulator. He wasn't prepared for the feeling he got on landing- like he'd been put through a tumble dryer. It felt like every bone in his body had been wrenched out of its socket and then put back into place by someone who didn't know the proper anatomy of the human skeleton. After standing still for a few moments, to check that none of his limbs had fallen off, he decided that no lasting harm had been done and looked up. Jack was standing in front of him, staring at him with a mixture of shock and joy and disbelief.

'Thanks,' Ianto said, at a loss for anything else to say.

Jack didn't say anything for a moment. Then she shook his head slightly, as if he was trying to clear if of his confusion. 'It's you.'

'Yeah. It's me,' Ianto replied awkwardly.

'Ianto…' Jack swallowed. 'Look, no offence or anything, but I saw you die.'

'I'm the stubborn type,' Ianto shrugged.

Jack's mouth twitched slightly, as if he was trying to smile and not smile at the same time.

'Jack,' Ianto said softly, taking a step forwards. 'It really is me.'

Jack closed his eyes. 'Yeah,' he whispered, barely audible. 'Yeah. It's you.'

Opening his eyes again, he smiled. 'I missed you.'

He stepped forwards to Ianto and threw his arms around him. The rest of the world dropped away around them, and for a few seconds nothing in the universe existed except the two of them. Jack and Ianto. Ianto and Jack. Both of them held tight, dreading the moment when they would finally have to let go.

But let go they had to, eventually, and they stood facing each other. Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Ianto interrupted. 'Jack. The children. Are they safe?'

Jack gave a sort of half-laugh. 'Ianto Jones, have I ever told you that you are the most amazingly selfless person I have ever met in my entire over-long life?'

'Um. No.'

'Well, I'm telling you now. You come back from the dead and that's the first question you ask me. I think that says quite a bit about you. And yeah, they're safe. You think I'd let those creatures take them?'

Ianto shook his head. He looked around at his surroundings for the first time. 'Jack… what exactly are we doing in a random hotel room?'

Jack sat down on the bed and motioned for Ianto to do the same. 'This is where I'm staying for now. I've been trying to set up a new Torchwood here on New Earth. This planet needs defending as much as the old one, even if it doesn't have a rift running right through the centre of it. Couldn't think of anywhere better to do it than New Cardiff. I've been here a few days now, and I think I've found a good location… but enough of me, what about you? How did you get here? How are you… alive?'

Ianto shrugged. 'I'm not completely sure. I woke up in this place…' He vaguely described the EEF. 'They wanted me because of you. They wanted your immortality. Well, they still do want it, I'm guessing. They made some sort of clone of me… a Flesh avatar, Jilani called it.'

'They _what?' _Jack's hands curled into fists. 'Are they totally crazy? Why would anyone in their right minds want to become like me?'

_I can think of a reason, _Ianto thought wistfully, but Jack carried on before he could speak. 'When was this?'

'Er… I think it was a little before Martha.'

'Before Martha? But that… that was almost a year! They had you for a year and I never noticed?'

'Uh, yeah.' Ianto looked at the floor. Jack's fists were so tightly clenched that his knuckles had turned white.

'I'm sorry,' Jack said quietly.

'Sorry? What for?'

'I should have realised.'

'You couldn't have known. Even I didn't know. It wasn't your fault.'

Jack nodded slowly. 'OK. So when the 456 released that virus it killed your ganger, and I'm guessing you woke up in your real body.'

'Yeah. There was this cat, her name was Jilani. She helped me escape.'

'You'll find a lot of cats here on New Earth. They evolved into humanoids, you see. But go on.'

'She gave her life so that I could get away. Then I just followed the river until I got here.'

They sat in silence for a moment.

'What happened to Gwen?' Ianto asked.

'Who? Oh, yeah…' Jack frowned as if thinking hard. 'Yeah, Gwen. Oh, she was fine. Lived the rest of her life with Rhys, had a daughter, got to a ripe old age…' He smiled.

'A daughter? Really? What was her name?'

'Uh…' Jack shook his head. 'I'm sorry. I can't remember. It's been more than two thousand years since I last saw you.'

Ianto's eyes widened. 'No wonder you didn't recognise me at first.'

Jack ran his hands over his face and through his hair, completely messing it up. He usually did that when he was stressed. 'I promised I'd never forget you. I never did. Two thousand years, that's too long to remember a face or a voice, but I never forgot the times we had together. When I saw you in that street…it was like... like… I'll tell you what it was like. You know when someone tells you a joke, and then you tell it to someone else, and they ask you where you heard it, and you can remember the joke but not who told it to you? That was what it was like. I knew that I knew you, but at first I couldn't remember how I knew you. And then, when you said that about how I promised not to forget you… I knew it was you.'

Ianto grinned. 'You know, the word 'knew' starts sounding kind of funny if you say it too many times.'

Jack smiled, but only a bit. 'I'm sorry,' he said, for the second time. 'I can't believe I could ever forget your voice with those beautiful Welsh vowels, or your eyes or your smile or-'

'Jack, get a sense of proportion. Two thousand years. You'd have to be an elephant to remember everything about me for that long. Either that or have hyperthymestic syndrome.'

'Hyperthyhoojit what?'

'It's a mental condition where you can remember every single detail of your life.'

'I guess.' Jack didn't look quite convinced.

'So how did you get here? I mean, you say it's only been two thousand years, but Jilani said it was the year five billion and fifteen, or something like that.'

'Thirty-ninth century technology. I got my Vortex Manipulator repaired. And this time it won't burn out if I do a really big time shift,' Jack explained, lifting his wrist and showing it. 'I've just been travelling around through time and space for some time, but I reckoned I needed somewhere to settle eventually.'

'Did you ever… find anyone?' Ianto tried to sound casual but he hoped so hard that the answer would be no.

Jack hesitated. 'Ianto… I promised not to forget you. Even if I hadn't, nobody could have been good enough, after you.'

Ianto looked up at him. 'Jack, when I said that, I never meant that I wanted you to become blinded to the living.'

Jack just blinked and looked at the floor.

'These people,' he said eventually. 'What was their plan, exactly?'

'Well… originally they just hoped that one day you'd tell my ganger about how you became immortal. I already knew, but you told me about it before they replaced me with the ganger, I suppose, so they didn't know. Jilani said they planned to take me back after I found out for them and leave us both in peace. But when I died, everything changed.'

'Why?'

'Because they couldn't just make a new ganger of me and send it down. You'd be suspicious, you'd investigate, and I guess they thought that eventually you'd realise what had happened. So they just sort of… kept me for a few months, and then, when you came here, they made a new plan. Catch you and threaten to kill me if you didn't tell them.'

Jack swore violently. 'If I ever catch _them,_ I will kill them. Very slowly.'

'Do you think we're safe here?' Ianto asked.

'No,' Jack replied bluntly. 'We know they have some superior technology. Time and space travel, for certain. Wherever we go, we'd still be at risk of being followed by them. We'll have to take them out.'

'You mean… go back?' Ianto's stomach twisted at the thought of returning to the place where he'd lived in a few months of hell.

Jack laid a hand on his shoulder. 'Not yet. Right now, all I want to do is just relax and really, really enjoy the fact that I've got you back.'

'That makes two of us,' Ianto said with a smile.

Jack reached a hand into his pocket and brought something out. 'By the way, I kept this. It's been repaired a couple of hundred times, and I think every single part of it has been replaced at least once, but it still works.'

He tipped something into Ianto's hand. With a frown, wondering what it could be, Ianto opened his fingers and looked at it.

It was his stopwatch.


	5. Before

Chapter Five- Before

_Sixteen months earlier_

'Matron Catra,' called Harman, twisting around in his chair. 'You too, Canitia. I think you might want to have a look at this.'

'What is it?' A woman with flawless white hair stepped up behind him. 'If it's just that he's snogging his boyfriend again, I'll-'

'Shut up,' Harman said angrily. He pointed at the screen. 'Look. I've been watching the footage from last night. You know that alien thing that's been invading them?'

'Adam,' said a tall, stately cat lady, coming over to them and leaning on the back of Harman's chair so that she could see the screen.

'Which has to be the most un-dramatic name for an alien in the universe,' the woman snorted. 'Adam. Not 'the destroyer' or 'the memory monster'- Adam. What sort of evil alien in their right mind calls themselves _Adam?'_

'Never mind his name! Last night, he did something to Jones. Changed his memories. He seemed to think he'd murdered three girls.' Harman pointed at the screen again. 'And look! Look at Harkness.'

The woman squinted at it. 'Turn up the sound, will you?'

'I told you that you need a hearing aid, Canitia,' Harman sighed, adjusting a little dial. The voices of Jack and Ianto came out of a loudspeaker, echoing around the white room.

'_No. This is not you. Something's changed you. You're not a murderer, I'm certain of it.'_

On the screen, Jack got up and, giving Ianto a reassuring pat on the shoulder as he passed, dashed over to the nearest computer terminal.

'What's he doing?' The cat lady frowned at the monitor.

'I think he was checking the CCTV to see what changed him,' Harman replied. 'Well, that did it for Adam. They pretty quickly realised what had happened.'

'Hmm.' Canitia pursed her lips, clearly thinking hard. 'Can you rewind this, please, Harman?'

Harman pressed a small green button, rewinding to the moment when Jack entered the hub.

'_Jack.'_

'_Ianto.' _There was a pause, and Canitia tried to get a better view, as Harman's head was in her way. _'Hey, what's wrong?'_

Ianto's voice was tearful and hoarse as he replied. _'You have to put me in the vault. Lock me up. I killed three girls.'_

'Fascinating,' Canitia murmured thoughtfully.

'What is?' the cat lady asked her.

'The fact that he seems able to tell Harkness about this, Matron Catra. We've been monitoring Harkness for three weeks now and we thought his relationship with Jones was just a slight romantic interest. But it appears to be deeper…'

Harman fast-forwarded the scene. 'Look at this next bit.' His companions turned back to the monitor. 'Harkness gets this lie detector. And even when it confirms what Jones tells him, he refuses to believe that it's true.'

'Most intriguing,' Canitia said quietly. 'OK, so now what are they doing?'

Harman stroked his chin in a contemplative way. 'It appears that our friend the Captain found the footage of Adam manipulating Ianto's memories. He showed it to him…'

They all crowded around as Ianto stared at the CCTV screen, breathing hard, every muscle in his body tensed.

'_What does that mean?'_

'_It means you didn't do it, Ianto. It was Adam. He did something to you. He corrupted your memories.'_

'_I didn't do it,'_ Ianto whispered, seeming to hardly dare to believe it.

'_You didn't do it. Ianto, listen to me. You would never do a thing like that.'_

'_But it seems so… so real…'_

'_Ianto. You did not do it. You would never do it. I could not in a million years believe that you would do it.'_

'Amazing!' Catra whistled. 'And he seems so separated and alien…'

'You haven't seen anything yet. If I just fast-forward about an hour and go to the conference room, it gets really interesting.' Harman pressed another few buttons and the scene changed. The team was seated around the table in the meeting room, Jack standing at their head.

'He's asking them to relate their old memories,' Harman explained. 'Anything that makes them who they are. Then he's using retcon to wipe their memories of Adam. And look at Jones. Remember his old girlfriend, Lisa? Remember how Harkness was responsible for her death? Now, look at what he says here.'

He pointed, and they all looked. Ianto spoke quietly, looking down at the table. _'Coming here… gave me meaning again.'_ He turned his head, looking into Jack's eyes. _'You…'_

It was so simple, and so heartfelt, and so true. Jack leaned down, ran a hand through Ianto's hair, and gently kissed his forehead, his eyes burning with pure, unbroken love.

Harman stopped the recording and rewound it, showing the last twenty seconds or so again. Then he paused it and turned to Canitia and Catra. 'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?'

A slow, icy smile spread over Canitia's face. 'Oh, yes, Harman. I am very much thinking what you're thinking.'

'I don't believe it.' Catra shook her head in bewilderment. 'I could never have believed Harkness capable of such love. Never.'

'Better start believing it, Matron.' Canitia's eyes glinted. 'It appears he is capable, and in being capable, he has supplied us with a weapon.'

She pressed a button and transmitted her voice through the speakers all over the facility. 'Commander Simmons, please report to Control. I repeat, Commander Simmons, please report to Control.' She turned to Matron Catra. 'As for you, Matron, I need your medical team at the ready and a new berth for a Flesh model. Harman, I want you and your team ready to create a new avatar.'

'Consider it done,' Catra said with a polite nod, and Harman cracked his knuckles in a let's-get-to-it sort of way. Both hurried from the room, leaving Canitia alone.

It wasn't long before a man in a crisp white uniform and a helmet that resembled that of a motorcyclist entered the room. He had a vicious-looking gun slung over his back, and a pistol in a holster at his side. He saluted as he entered, clicking his heels together. 'You requested my presence, ma'am?'

'No, I did not. I sent for you.' Canitia gave a twisted smile without a shred of amusement or warmth behind it.

'Very good, ma'am.' Commander Simmons's expression didn't change in the slightest.

'Commander, if I gave you and some of your best troops the use of the time travel devices, could you bring someone back for us? Listen, because this is very important- you must not let him see you. He mustn't have any idea that you are there. We need to make a ganger of him, and the ganger will share his memories. If he remembers you, all will be lost.'

'Yes ma'am!' Simmons barked. 'May I know who I am to catch, and where and when I have to be?'

'Earth, Cardiff, the year 2008,' Canitia replied. 'His name is Ianto Jones. If I am to reveal more, then I must have your word that nothing I am about to tell you will be repeated to anybody else. If it is, when we discover the secret of immortality, we won't be telling it to you.'

'My lips shall remain sealed, ma'am!'

'Very good, Commander. Jones is a member of the organisation run by Captain Jack Harkness. It's called Torchwood. As you know, Harkness is the only immortal being in existence.'

'I could hardly work here not knowing that, ma'am.'

'No, you couldn't. Now, we knew that Jones and Harkness had a… _thing_,' Canitia continued delicately, 'but we have only recently discovered just how close they really are.'

'Shouldn't that be _were_, ma'am?'

'It could be either. It may be the past for us, but it's the present for them.'

Simmons looked extremely confused. In fact, his face resembled that of someone who's been told that bananas are purple. (On New Earth, bananas are orange, after all.) He tried not to show his obvious bafflement. 'And I take it we are to capture him, create a ganger of him, and hope that Harkness will reveal the secret of immortality to him?'

'Exactly, Commander. You're smarter than you look.'

The commander's face curled into a greedy smile. 'It's infallible, ma'am.'

'Yes, it is rather clever, isn't it?' Canitia looked thoroughly pleased with her own genius.

Simmons narrowed his eyes. 'Harkness thinks he's so great, strutting around in that stupid coat, showing off his immortality, never telling anyone how to become like him… I'll show him. Give me half an hour, ma'am, and I'll have your orders completed down to the last detail!'

'I rather like his coat, actually,' Canitia told him, 'but I'm impressed by your loyalty, Commander. Report to Transportation with as many men as you deem necessary, to receive your time travel devices. Whatever you do, do not kill- or injure- anyone. We mustn't leave traces. We need Jones alive and unspoiled. Understand?'

'Yes ma'am!'

'Wonderful. Now get to it, Commander.' Canitia's grey eyes bored into those of the leader of her troops. Simmons gulped but held her gaze. .

'Bring me Ianto Jones.'


	6. Dream

Chapter Six- Dream

When Jack woke up, he could tell from the light in the room that it was far from dawn. Raising his head and squinting through the darkness, he could see that the hands on the clock by the bedside proclaimed it to be twenty past two. He burrowed back down into the bedclothes. And then he remembered.

He froze, not moving a muscle, not daring to turn his head in case it had all been a beautiful dream. Perhaps all of it, the reunion with the man he loved, had all been in his imagination. Maybe none of it had been real. Maybe Ianto really had died, long ago, in that darkened room in Jack's arms. Maybe none of it had happened, none of it at all…

_If you don't look, _he told himself firmly, _you won't know._

So he looked, and he saw, and his heart filled with joy. It had not been a dream. There he lay beside him. The months of poor treatment at the hands of the EEF had clearly taken their toll- he was thinner than Jack remembered him, and his face had the unmistakeable look Jack knew all too well, the look of someone who has recently been through suffering. But it was him, definitely him- his Ianto Jones.

Now that he had seen him again, all the lost and buried memories came flooding back. The times they'd shared together, the hard and the easy, the sad and the joyful. He closed his eyes, listened to the sound of Ianto's breathing, and remembered where it all began…

When they first met, in the woods that night, how could Jack have possibly known that this man would one day become his entire universe? How could he have known that he was meeting the man who would one day mean everything to him- or at least, everything that mattered? At the time, as far as Jack was concerned, he was just an ordinary human, with a very Welsh name and a very Welsh voice who somehow seemed to know what a Weevil was. Although he was (he'd had to admit it, even then) pretty impressive, attacking a Weevil without any proper weapons to try and save him. But impressive or not, Jack had felt nothing for him. In fact, as he walked away, his thoughts had been questioning whether or not to track him down and retcon him. How he regretted that now!

And when Jack had discovered that the man who'd saved him from the Weevil was an ex-agent of Torchwood One… He had known he was being unfair. Most of the Torchwood One operatives had been nothing to do with the cybermen and the daleks. They'd just sat at desks all day and done what they were told, because they needed the money. This man was almost certainly one of them. He'd had nothing to do with what had happened to Rose… But Jack could not forgive him, even though he knew that there was nothing that needed to be forgiven. He hated Torchwood One, and everything and everyone to do with them. They had killed Rose. And so- how he hated to even think of it- he had hated him. Even when he knew that there was nothing to hate. He had hated him. He had hated Ianto.

And then… remembering that night always brought a smile to Jack's face, and now was no exception. He was ashamed of how he had shouted at Ianto, told him to leave the city and find himself a new life. But then everything had changed. Jack couldn't count the number of times he'd told his team that, 'the twenty first century is when everything changes. And you've got to be ready.' He hadn't been wrong, that was for sure! The twenty first century was definitely when everything had changed for Jack. And he hadn't been ready. He hadn't been ready for such sudden and strong love…

At first, as much as he didn't like it, he'd only really cared about catching the pterodactyl. But then... if Jack had thought that Ianto had been impressive fighting that Weevil, then he changed his mind then. This- this was impressive! Baiting it with chocolate, distracting it, then catching Jack as he fell... that was the moment Jack had fallen for him- in more ways than one.

And so, though he had known he was probably being stupid, though he had hated this man only twenty minutes earlier… Jack took him on. Ianto joined the team. And not once did Jack regret it. Not once, until that night. One of the longest nights of his life. Almost certainly the longest night of Ianto's life. The night that Ianto lost his Lisa.

Even now, two thousand years on, Jack still found thinking about that night so confusing. All those different emotions, jumbled and piled up on top of each other… Anger. Shame. Pity. Guilt. Jealousy. And… again…. Jack had been impressed. Dead impressed.

The anger he'd felt that night…. Had it really been for Ianto? Somehow, Jack didn't think it was. His anger had been for himself. Doing the things he'd done, saying the things he'd said. He'd known he was being unfair and cruel and wrong. But he did those things all the same, he'd said those awful things anyway. That had made him, he thought to himself furiously, as much of a monster as Lisa had become. As much of a monster as Ianto had told him that he was.

And he had been envious. Envious of Lisa. Jealous of this girl- or what was left of the poor girl- who had Ianto's love. He'd tried to ignore it, tried to push it down… maybe that was why he'd said and done those things. Out of jealousy. Jack didn't know. It had all been so long ago…

And yes. He'd been impressed. No, not impressed- that didn't begin to cover it. Awe-struck. Amazed. Mesmerised. Enthralled. Overwhelmed. Captivated by Ianto's loyalty and devotion to his Lisa, by how incredibly brave he had been to face up to Jack and the others, by how good a person he was at heart. His heart was so true and pure and so… so… just good. He really was, deep down, better than all the rest of them. So, so much a better person than Jack could ever hope to be.

And so, when it was all over, Jack had let him stay. He couldn't bear to do it, to retcon this fragile remainder of a man and send him out into a cruel world. No. He should have done it, all the rules and regulations said it was the thing to do… but since when had Jack been a rules and regulations kind of guy? Damn the rules and screw the regulations! Ianto's heart had been broken. It needed mending. And maybe, just maybe, Jack could be the one to mend it.

In his sleep, Ianto let out a soft sigh.

Jack remembered thinking that night, not the night of Lisa's death but the night after it happened. _We've been so unfair to him, _he had thought. _There's no denying it. We've been blatantly unfair. Going out on field missions and hunting Weevils, and leaving him behind to make coffee and tidy up the Hub. Even Gwen is a field agent already. She gets paid almost twice what he does and she's been here less than half the time that he has. We've been so unfair… now we need to fix it. I need to fix it._

And so he had, as best as he could. To start with, he'd given the others a stiff lecture on treating him fairly. Gwen and Tosh had looked at him with wide eyes and said things along the lines of 'of course!' while Owen had scowled and sneered and protested that he was just the teaboy and unimportant and had betrayed them and wasn't worth the trouble, etc etc. Jack had dismissed Tosh and Gwen and given Owen an even stiffer lecture on attitude, as well as an order to clean out the vaults. That sort of backfired, because it just made Owen even more resentful towards Ianto. But Jack had done his best, all the same. He'd used the inflation as an excuse to give him a pay rise. He'd told Ianto that he didn't need to come in so early and leave so late, which also backfired, because Ianto did it anyway. ('I thought I told you that you didn't need to be here for another hour.' 'Yes, you did, sir. Coffee?) And then- Jack still didn't know whether he should have done it or not- he'd brought Ianto out with them on his first field mission.

It had been a complete disaster. Jack had never forgiven himself for allowing the others to be taken… captured and imprisoned and nearly _eaten._ When he had burst through the wall and seen his team… seen those monsters of men standing there… seen Ianto lying on the ground, tied and gagged with a tiny cut at his throat where the blade of the knife had nicked it… he could hardly remember what had happened next. It was a blur of noise and rage. He remembered pure and utter fury, and a driving desperation to protect his team.

He had felt so guilty afterwards. He had led his team into danger. He had nearly led them to their deaths. He'd let them go home early. He could tell none of them wanted to stay.

But one of them did stay. Ianto waited until the others were gone. Then he went over to Jack and stood in front of his desk, looking at the floor.

'Thanks,' he'd said.

'What for?'

'You… you saved my life. If you'd been just a moment late, I'd be dead.'

Jack had smiled. 'I wasn't late. I won't let anything happen to my team. Ever. And that includes you.'

There had been a long, awkward silence. Then Ianto whispered, 'I'm sorry.'

Jack stared at him, baffled. 'You're sorry that those monsters nearly killed you?'

'No. For…' Ianto breathed in, still refusing to look up from the floor. 'For Lisa.'

Standing up, Jack walked around the desk and laid his hands on Ianto's shoulders. 'Ianto… no. It's me who should be sorry. I was wrong. Everything I did that night… it was wrong, and I'm sorry.'

Ianto had clearly been struggling not to cry the entire tine they'd be speaking, and now he gave up trying.

'How could they?' His voice was cracked with pain and grief. 'Every ten years… what they did… to all those people…' He looked up at Jack, and, for the first time, their eyes met. 'And they didn't have anyone to save them.'

Jack remembered gently taking Ianto in his arms and holding him close. 'I'll always be there to save you,' he promised. 'Always.'

And so it had begun. Those happy times… coffee, mucking around with that stopwatch, all the laughter and smiles. But then it had all been ruined. Abbadon wanted the Rift opened, and he used Ianto to do it. Of course, he used all of the team, but it was how he used Ianto that hurt Jack the most. Abbadon's servant, Bilis, showed him Lisa. Promised him that she would be returned to him if he opened the Rift. Standing there, watching his team betray him for the people they loved… it was like a knife in his chest. He understood (did he?) that Gwen loved Rhys, that Owen loved Diane, that Tosh loved her mother… but Ianto? Did Lisa mean more to Ianto than he did? Had there never been anything between them at all, all along?

There were so many reasons why Jack had faced Abbadon that day. To save the earth. To defeat the evil monster. To prove to his team that he was sorry, perhaps? Maybe, just maybe, a small part of him hoped that it would be his death. Maybe he'd find peace at last. But there was definitely a part of him that was so full of raw hurt and sorrow that Ianto had chosen Lisa over him, maybe felt nothing for him at all… that life didn't matter anymore.

He didn't know. It was all so, so, so long ago.

But it hadn't been the end. Jack had come back. He could remember the look on Ianto's face when he returned, seemingly from the dead. He'd looked up, and seen… there was a rush of emotion behind those sky-blue eyes. First confusion, then shock, then… joy. Joy and love. Ianto had run to him and in that moment Jack had known. Known that Ianto did feel for him. It was like a wave of happiness crashing over him, the realisation that Ianto felt the same way about him as he did about Ianto…

Which was why Jack hated himself for what happened next. He heard the groaning of ancient engines, the sound of the TARDIS. He'd gone without a second thought, without a goodbye. He knew he was wrong to hate himself, to blame himself. He hadn't known that the TARDIS would react like it did, catapulting itself to the end of the universe, taking him with it. He hadn't wanted to forsake his team. He'd expected to enter the TARDIS and find the Doctor again. Get an explanation- an explanation for his immortality, an explanation for why the Doctor had abandoned him. He had had such wonderful time with the Doctor. They'd been to Woman Wept, Kegron Pluva, the glass pyramids of Sancleen … and then the Doctor deserted him on Satellite Five. He was the only survivor. A quick investigation had shown that the daleks had got them all, even Lynda, who they'd thought would be safe. There was nobody to help him. No supplies of any sort. In the two days Jack had been marooned there, repairing his battered old Vortex Manipulator so that he could escape, he had tried to convince himself that the Doctor had thought he was dead. He had prayed so many times that was why he and Rose had left. But he knew it wasn't true. If you don't know if your friend is dead or not, you go looking. You try to find them. And if they're alive, you take them with you. If they're dead, you bury them. You don't leave them lying slumped against a wall, ankle-deep in dalek dust. He hadn't meant to leave his team. He had only been trying to find answers. And once he'd got them, he'd show the Doctor Torchwood. He'd show how he'd rebuilt it, in the Doctor's honour. How he'd changed it, made it good. He'd introduce him to his team. And then he'd bid the Doctor goodbye and carry on with his life- because Torchwood was where he belonged, not the TARDIS.

But it hadn't worked that way. The TARDIS had dumped them all- him, the Doctor and Martha- in the year one hundred trillion, and then the Master had stolen the TARDIS. Despite their efforts, they couldn't stop the Master taking over. Martha might have escaped, but Jack was a prisoner. A whole year, he kept himself fighting with the thought of returning home, to Torchwood, to Ianto… and he hoped and prayed that he would be forgiven.

Homecoming hadn't been how he'd expected. Quite apart from the fact that nobody remembered the year that never was apart from him, Martha and her family, the Doctor and a few others, when he arrived back at the Hub, none of them were there. He remembered how the Master had sent them all off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas, so that they wouldn't be able to help him, and decided that the only thing to be done was just to wait for their return. And when they did… it took them a long time to forgive him. Understandable. Jack couldn't explain. It was too close, just then. But one day, he knew, he'd tell. Not all of them. He couldn't imagine telling Owen about it. But he could tell Ianto. And he would. One day, he would tell, and Ianto would be there to listen.

The day came sooner than Jack anticipated. When he called in Martha to help Owen with the toxic shock cases, he could tell that he could avoid telling it no longer.

'Who is she, Jack? How do you know her?' Ianto had been puzzled, confused.

Jack had sighed and done his usual aargh-I'm-in-a-really-stressful-and-awkward-situation thing of running his hands over his face and through his hair. 'I… I guess I've been keeping it from you too long. I never told you about where I was, that time I left you, because it's so painful to remember. But… there was no avoiding this, really. You have to know.'

And so he'd told the story, the whole story. From the moment he left the time agency till the moment he returned to Torchwood after that year of hell on board the _Valiant. _Ianto had listened, with wide eyes, never interrupting except to ask an occasional question, and when it was over his only response was to close his eyes, shake his head slightly and say, very softly, 'Now I understand.'

'Understand what?'

Ianto had looked right into his eyes. 'Why you're so lonely.'

Jack had smiled at him. 'Not anymore.'

And it was true, he wasn't lonely now. Not with his Ianto there for him. He was happier than he'd ever been.

Jack couldn't remember much of the terrible time when Gray returned, and buried him alive for two thousand years. Most of it was spent dead, after all, and the waking moments had only lasted a few agonising seconds before he died again. Far worse was the knowledge that this was his brother, his own brother, who had done this to him. Gray hated him, because of that single moment, all those years ago, when Jack let go of his hand…

But not even a living death can last forever. He was rescued; he returned. He returned to his team. He returned to his brother. He returned to Ianto.

He lost Owen and Tosh that day, but Ianto gave him the strength to carry on. 'They died fighting, Jack,' he said. 'They gave their lives to save the world. Like you said, we have to be strong, for their sakes.'

Ianto. He always knew how to say the right thing. He always knew what Jack wanted, often even before Jack did. They loved each other. They really did. But where did it all end up? All that love and happiness? It ended in a dark room, with Ianto dying in his arms. For weeks after it happened, Jack's dreams were filled with the same words- Ianto's dying request, and his answer.

'_Don't forget me.'_

'_Never could.'_

And sometimes his dreams would whisper words that it pained him to remember:

'_I love you.'_

'_Don't.'_

So many times Jack had cursed himself for saying that, for not telling Ianto how he loved him, how he valued him above everything else in his long, long life, how he had never felt the same way about anyone the way he did for him. But it was too late to tell him that now. Ianto died, and Jack lived. Yet Jack still loved him. His love for Ianto was stronger than death, stronger than who he was… stronger than life itself.

Six months later, Jack gave up and ran. When he became mortal during the miracle, when he died a mortal death, he wondered as he died whether he was going to wherever Ianto was, to be with him again. But the world reversed, and as everyone else regained their mortality, he regained his immortality. Eventually his Vortex Manipulator was repaired, and all of time and space became open to him. For two thousand years he wandered among the stars.

The day that Jack realised he could no longer remember Ianto's face or voice, he sat down and cried for perhaps ten minutes solid. And when he had no tears left to cry, he faced the world filled with new purpose. Ianto's memory could not be allowed to die. He had to do something to keep it going. Forever. He could not forget. And so he came to New Earth, to New Cardiff, and decided to start a new Torchwood, in honour of his lost lover.

And a few days later, he rounded a corner and a man he could remember and couldn't remember ran right into him.

Because Ianto hadn't died. All those years of devastation and sorrow, and he hadn't died after all. He was alive! And he was here, with him, now!

'I never told you,' Jack whispered. 'The day you died, or we thought you had… I never told you that I love you.' He sighed. 'I wish I had.'

It wasn't until then that he noticed that Ianto had woken up, and was smiling at him.

'You didn't have to tell me, Jack,' he replied softly. 'I already knew.'


	7. Choice

Chapter Seven- Choice

'You stupid FOOLS!'

Commander Simmons and his men flinched under Canitia's outburst. Her face was flushed with fury- she appeared completely livid. Her hands were clenched into fist so tightly that her entire hands had turned white.

'Blundering oafs!' she thundered. 'Blithering idiots! Dunderheads! Ninnyhammers! Pea-brains! Letting him get away! Did I not make myself clear when I said I wanted him recaptured, even if it killed every single useless one of you? Have you all gone deaf? I told you I wanted him brought back, bound hand and foot if necessary! How stupid is it possible for you all to be?'

'It was his fault!' protested one of the three men, pointing at his commander. 'He should have realised he'd gone into the river!'

'I don't care whose fault it is!' Canitia screamed hysterically. 'I just want him back here! We need him! Don't you care about the secret of immortality? You, Commander, I thought you'd sworn to find Harkness even if it took you the rest of your life!'

'We didn't know that cat was helping him!'

'Does it matter? Cat or no cat, he got away! He got away because you thick-headed numbskulls allowed him to escape!'

'Ma'am, please… there's something else you should know.' Simmons looked at the floor.

'Will I like it?' Canitia snapped.

'No,' Simmons replied uneasily.

'Then tell me, Commander, and stop looking at the floor, man!'

Simmons gulped and looked up at her. 'He… well… um…' He took a deep breath. 'He found Harkness.'

There was an awful silence.

Somebody standing outside of the Central Command room at that point might have thought some kind of explosion had taken place in there. Indeed, a young novice healer walking by jumped two feet in the air, and Harman, who was listening over the communications system had to take out his earpieces and rub his ringing ears.

'WHAAAAAT?' Canitia bellowed.

There followed a deafening surge of the most colourful and obscene oaths and swearwords Commander Simmons and his men had ever heard. Most of it was so horrendously loud they were too busy trying to plug their ears to hear it, but the general gist of it was really rather unpleasant and angry. When Canitia had finally finished, her face was redder than a tomato and she looked capable of murder.

'If this _ever_ happens again,' she snarled through gritted teeth, and the words were all the more terrible now because they were spoken quietly, 'I will personally kill the ones responsible. I want both of them captured- Harkness and Jones- and if they haven't been caught within three days-'

Canitia drew a finger across her throat. All three men gulped visibly.

'Now get out of my sight, you miserable little worms!' she screeched.

Taking the hint, all three men turned and fled from the room like cats from a dog.

'Phew,' gasped one as soon as they had put a safe distance between themselves and their furious boss. 'I think I've just been run over by a steamroller!'

'My ears hurt,' moaned the second.

Simmons glared at them. 'Quit complaining. We've got work to do. I vowed to get Captain Jack Harkness and I will, even if it kills me!'

'Yeah, and the secret of immortality will be _so _much use to you if getting it kills you,' sneered one man sarcastically.

Simmons turned and grasped the man by the throat. 'You reckon this is funny?' he snarled, shoving him up against the wall.

'No, sir!' the soldier squeaked pathetically.

Simmons dropped him and the man slid down the wall and flopped heavily onto the floor, where he lay massaging his throat.

'Get up,' Simmons snapped at him. 'I'm going to put up some extra security systems. You two had better get out there looking for Harkness and Jones right now, or I'll want to know the reason why!'

Both med nodded ashamedly and scurried off. Simmons started to slink back to the barracks, angry thoughts teeming through his mind. _I had him, _he growled wrathfully in his mind. _I had him almost within my grasp and he got away! I had them both! Just wait… I'll show them. Next time they will not escape!_

/

'You know, I'd forgotten how good you look in a suit,' Jack said.

Ianto gave a quiet chuckle. 'Careful. That's harassment, sir.'

Jack frowned, then burst out laughing. 'That was what you said the day we met Gwen, right?'

Ianto looked at him with concern. 'Is it really that hard to remember?'

Jack bit his lip. 'Sometimes. I usually have to think about things for a while, but it's coming back. I feel like I've been retconned, and someone's telling me about the things I've been made to forget.'

The two of them were lying on their chests in a patch of long grass. The river that had taken Ianto to safety was a little way behind them. Ahead, they could see the gleaming white shape of the EEF building, half shrouded in early morning mist.

The plan was simple. Step one was to use the Vortex Manipulator to teleport inside the building. Step two? Improvise. If you were going to work in Torchwood, you had to be pretty good at making things up as you go along, and Jack and Ianto were experts.

'You sure you're ready for this?' Jack asked, deciding to change the subject. He still hated himself for forgetting. Ianto had told him at least forty times it was ok, but it wasn't. Not as far as Jack was concerned.

Ianto gave him a funny look. 'Why wouldn't I be? Ready as I'll ever be. Remember, from what Jilani said, I think they've got CCTV running the whole time in there, so the moment we're in, they'll know about it.'

Jack gave a determined sort of half nod and starting pressing buttons on his wrist strap. 'I think I've got the coordinates right. We're good to go.'

'You _think _you've got the coordinates?' Ianto asked nervously, as he placed one hand on the wrist strap. 'If we end up on Mars, I might just murder you.'

'Trust me! Trial and error is my philosophy,' Jack chuckled, pressing another button.

With a glow of energy, they were gone.

'OK,' Ianto sighed, as soon as they landed, 'I said I didn't want Mars.'

'This isn't Mars!' Jack protested. 'It's Jalvanaria! You can tell, because of all the weird green fish things!'

Ianto gave him a withering look.

'OK, I admit it. I did that on purpose,' Jack muttered, tapping in some more coordinates. 'You're no fun.'

'Let's try again, shall we?' Ianto said meaningfully, placing his hand on the wrist strap for a second time.

Another glow of energy, and they were gone again, leaving several green fish people staring in confusion at the place where they had appeared and disappeared.

'This is more like it,' Ianto said approvingly, but he had to supress a shudder. These gleaming white walls, devoid of any decoration… he was back in the EEF. Back in the place where he'd lived in a nightmare.

Jack sensed his trepidation. 'Come on. All we need to do is find the boss people, make them leave us alone, and then get out. How hard can that be?'

'Pretty hard,' Ianto sighed. 'You might not have realised we have absolutely no idea where we're going.'

'Trial and error, remember?' Jack reminded him. 'This way?'

'That way looks as good as any,' Ianto shrugged.

Without warning, a siren started wailing, and the awful, emotionless voice Ianto knew all too well sounded over the speakers. 'Attention all personnel, we have two intruders near the Flesh Control Centre. I repeat, attention all personnel…' Harman.

Ianto glanced at Jack and for a moment it was as if they were back in Torchwood, in Cardiff, hunting a Weevil through the sewers as they'd done so many times. With a slight raise of his eyebrows, Ianto asked an unspoken question. _Run?_

Jack confirmed it with a grin and a slight, quick nod, just as he'd done in days gone by. _Run!_

And so they ran.

Maybe they were facing desperate danger, but Jack couldn't stop grinning as he ran. This was just like old times! Running into peril, with Ianto by his side… this was the life!

Suddenly Ianto ground to a stop. 'Look!'

'What is it?' Jack frowned.

Ianto ran over to the nearest wall. Like all the others, it was gleaming white, but with one difference. There was a small blue circle on it, about a metre and a half up from the floor. Curious, Ianto touched it gingerly. With a slight hiss, the wall drew back and slid aside, revealing a room Ianto remembered only too well.

Jack took a step inside. 'Now this is interesting.'

'This is where I arrived,' Ianto told him. 'Well, it's where I woke up, after I died in my Flesh body.'

'Hmm,' Jack said noncommittally, examining the metal table-chair-bed thing. His eyes lit up. 'Oh, yes. We've got them now. This is a Mark Two Flesh Manipulation and Temporal Transference Device. This sort of technology was banned centuries ago. All we need is some proof that this is here, then we get out of here and report it to the authorities. Then we won't need to find the boss people. The police can shut this place down.'

'Great!' Ianto exclaimed, then thought of something. 'How do we prove it's here, though? You got a camera?'

'Uh… no. I'll find a way. You keep a lookout. Shout if anyone comes.'

'Sure.' Ianto had been standing in the doorway, and now he stepped out into the corridor. The door slid back into place with a hum of machinery. It was pretty ingenious, Ianto had to admit. The doors to the cells could clearly only be opened from the outside, which meant if you managed to escape, you wouldn't be able to open the doors. He was lucky that Jilani had been there to help him.

Inside the room, Jack studied the machine. Might he be able to break a piece off somehow? He examined the joints in the metal. They were pretty solid, and didn't look like they were going to come apart easily. But he couldn't see any other way to prove that the damn thing was here. He bent down and gave one of the pieces of metal an experimental tug.

Outside, Ianto thought he heard something. Glancing around, he walked towards the end of the corridor and peered into the adjoining one. No one there. He must have been imagining things. He turned back and started to walk back to the door.

Wait. There was definitely something out there. Those were footsteps. He turned around again and returned to the end of the corridor. He looked down the passageway to his right and his eyes widened in shock and fear.

Jack was using his wrist strap to scan the device when he heard Ianto's cry, loud enough to wake the dead and full of fear. 'JACK!'

It was followed by the sound of running feet and a shout of pain. Adrenaline coursed through him as he turned back to the door. What was going on? Had someone found them? They must have done. He looked for a way to open the door, but there wasn't one. Frantically, he searched the whole room. There was no way out; the doors opened from the outside only. Desperately, he hammered at the wall where the door was. 'Ianto! I'm stuck in here, open it!'

'If you insist,' came a cold, lazy voice from outside. 'You know, it's polite to say please.'

The door slid open. Jack clenched his fists. His hand flew to his gun.

'I wouldn't, Captain,' laughed Commander Simmons, levelling his own gun at Jack's head. 'You wouldn't want to hit your friend here, would you?'

The soldier stood there, smiling. One arm pointed his gun at Jack. The other was wrapped around Ianto's neck in a vicelike grip, and though Ianto struggled with all his might he could not break free. Jack saw the truth of Simmons's words- even at this close range, he couldn't fire without a risk of hitting his friend. And even if he did aim right, Simmons would be sure to use Ianto as a shield. There was no way out of this. It was a stalemate.

'Put that little toy down, Mr Harkness,' Simmons sneered. 'Someone might get hurt.'

'It'll be you,' Ianto snarled at him.

Simmons tightened his grip. 'I wasn't talking to you. Come on, Captain. Put it down.'

'Make me,' Jack challenged him. His mind was racing wildly. How could they get out of this?

'If you like,' Simmons sneered. He replaced his gun in his holster, and drew out a small, thin device.

Jack tried not to show his horror as he recognised the thing. He had to find a way out. Could he move fast enough to free Ianto and then teleport them both out?

'You recognise this, don't you?' Simmons jeered. 'I believe your friend Miss Sato was unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of one of these. A sonic modulator. It's not nice, Captain. Not nice at all. Now, this particular one is short range. My helmet will protect me, it's got built in earpieces, and you, I believe, are just out of range. Which means there's only one of us who'll be affected…'

His gaze fell on Ianto, and he gave a malevolent smile.

'I'm going to start counting down from ten. You have a simple choice, Harkness. Either throw your gun down by the time I reach zero, or watch your precious little lover suffer more pain than he's ever experienced in his entire life.'

'Jack, don't worry about me!' Ianto gasped.

'Shut it, you. Ten. Nine. Eight.'

Jack's heart was beating faster than ever. _What do I do? What the hell can I do?_

'Seven, six…'

'Jack, for heaven's sake, just get out of here!' Ianto shouted.

'I'm not leaving you.'

'Five, four, three…'

Nothing. That was the answer. He could do nothing.

He opened his hand; let his gun drop to the floor. It landed with a clatter, followed by a small thud, like a door closing.

'Very good, Captain,' Simmons said, still smiling.

'Now let him go,' Jack commanded him.

'Maybe, maybe…' Simmons fingered the sonic modulator. 'Or maybe I'll just use this anyway…'

'I think you've done quite enough, Commander,' came the strident voice of Canitia, from behind them. 'A good job. Admirable, in fact. But you may release him now.'

'Very good, ma'am.' Simmons reluctantly pocketed the modulator and stepped away, letting Ianto fall to the floor. Jack ran to his side.

'It was nice of you to drop in for a visit,' Canitia told them.

'You've got what you wanted,' Jack snapped at her. 'You've got me. You don't need Ianto. Let him go. He's done nothing to you.'

'No, indeed he hasn't. And he's done nothing _for _us, either- yet. But he will. Both of you have your part to play in granting us the secret of immortality.'

'You damned fools!' Jack roared. 'There is no secret! You can't become immortal! I'm the only one that's ever existed, and I'm the only one that ever will exist!'

Canitia ignored him. 'Commander, please call Matron Catra for me. I'll be needing her help to examine him.' She jerked her head at Jack. 'I'm going to find the source of his immortality, no matter what the cost.'

'What about him?' Simmons looked at Ianto.

'We don't need him yet. Lock him up.'

'Yes, ma'am.' Simmons drew his gun and pointed it at Ianto. 'Get moving.'

Jack ran forwards and grasped hold of Ianto's hand. For the briefest of moments, their eyes met.

'Ianto-'

'Jack-'

No more words were said, but no more words were needed. It was enough for each of them to look into the other's eyes, and see the depth of loyalty and love that lay within. But it only lasted for a second, before hands fastened around them both and dragged them away.

_Cliff-hanger time! A big thank you to all my readers and an even bigger one to all my reviewers! If you haven't reviewed, please do; I'd really love some feedback. The next chapter will be coming soon!_


	8. Suffering

Chapter Eight- Suffering

'When I get out of here,' Jack snarled through gritted teeth, 'I will kill you.'

Canitia nodded dismissively. 'Hmm, yes, I'm sure you will.'

Clamped down to the same table-thing that Ianto had occupied for so long, Jack could only glare furiously at his persecutors. 'All of this is completely pointless. For the last time, you can't become immortal! And if you'd lived the live I have to, you wouldn't want to!'

Canitia gave a large fake yawn. 'How's the scan going, Matron?'

Matron Catra shook her head in disbelief as she looked at the readings on a scanning device she was holding. 'It's hard to accept as true, Canitia. He's a perfectly ordinary human being.'

'Hah!' Jack snorted with laughter. 'That has to be the first time in my life anyone has ever told me that.'

'So it's not a physical condition?' Canitia inquired, ignoring Jack completely.

'It appears not. I'm afraid I can't be of much use. There's absolutely no difference in his anatomy to any other human.'

'Hmm.' Canitia turned around and fixed her cold grey eyes on Jack. 'So what's special about you, then? What makes you different to the rest of us?'

'Like I'm going to tell you anything,' Jack snapped contemptuously.

Canitia turned to Catra. 'I'd like to see his immortality in action, wouldn't you?'

'Most certainly I would,' Catra replied, eyes shining with cruel delight.

Jack realised what they meant and braced himself, which was lucky, as Canitia's next move was to draw her gun and shoot him through the head. For a split second everything was pain, then abruptly the entire world was gone.

And then it was back. Jack gasped for air, panting like a dog on a summer's day.

Canitia regarded him with interest. 'Why exactly is it that you consider your inability to die a curse, Captain?'

Jack scowled at her. 'I'd have thought it would be obvious.'

'Not to me. Eternal life and youth! Why on New Earth would anyone believe that to be an ordeal, rather than a blessing?'

Jack closed his eyes. 'I'll tell you why. Ianto. We died together, or at least I thought we did. You can't imagine how I felt when I woke up and saw him dead. He died. I lived. And I've had to live without him, knowing it was my fault he died, until now. Can't you understand that? Haven't you ever lost someone you loved? Haven't you ever loved anyone at all?'

Canitia gave a mirthless laugh. 'Love? Why would I want to waste my emotions loving anyone? What did love ever do for you, Captain? All it's brought you is pain and grief and sorrow, because everyone you cared for is gone!'

'That's not all,' Jack countered. 'I had a brother. Gray.'

'Yes, we know,' Matron Catra replied. 'We were watching, remember?'

'Yeah, through Ianto. You had no right to take him. None at all,' Jack growled at her.

'I believe you were telling us about your brother,' Canitia said icily.

'Well, since you were spying on us, you know what he did to me. Two thousand years in a living death. Buried alive. If I were mortal, it wouldn't have happened. You think that's a blessing?'

'Yes, I do. You never used your power, Captain. You could have had so much. The entire universe could have bowed down before you! Time itself could have belonged to you! You could have been so great. But now you will always be nothing. Because you wasted your time on _love!' _Canitia's eyes glinted like grey fire.

'Why the hell would I want the entire damned universe? Being immortal- it's not how you think. It's not a power, it's a nightmare! I don't want to be great or powerful, only people like you want that!'

'You are very hard to believe, you know,' Canitia hissed. 'All that power, and how did you use it? Defending your pathetic little planet!'

'Because it was the right thing to do. Except you don't understand that, do you? Because you don't know what rightmeans.'

'It's the opposite of left,' Canitia smirked, 'or, if spelt with a W, it can be something you do with a pen.'

Jack gave a sigh of angry exasperation. 'The only right thing you ever did in your entire life was to save Ianto. And you didn't even mean to do that in the first place.'

'Listen, Captain,' Matron Catra said, trying to sound reasonable. 'Our motives don't really matter, do they? All we need is the secret of immortality.'

'There is no secret! I don't die, and that's the end of it!'

'I don't believe that you were born that way,' Catra replied. 'There must be a reason behind it, and that's what we want. And I believe you mentioned something to Ianto's ganger at one point about being 'a fixed point in time and space.' Could you kindly explain what that was about?'

Jack narrowed his eyes. 'If I tell you how I became immortal, will you let Ianto go?'

Canitia pursed her lips and considered. It was an interesting proposition. But no. _Jones is our best weapon against him, _she thought. _If Harkness lies, and we release him, we have lost our best chance of persuading him, and gained nothing._ 'No,' she replied.

'Then I won't tell you anything.'

'Oh, you will,' Canitia said, her cold smile spreading across her face. 'You will, Captain. In a few hours' time, you'll be telling us everything we want to know.' She rapped sharply on the door of the cell, and it slid open, revealing a pair of guards.

'Take him to cell seventeen,' Canitia ordered them carelessly. 'And there's something else I need you to do…'

She whispered into one of the ear of one of the guards. His eyes widened, but he stared directly ahead, showing no emotion. 'Yes ma'am!'

'Then get to it,' she snapped, clapping her hands at him. Turning back to Jack, she gave a quiet chuckle. 'Love, Captain? Your love for Ianto Jones has achieved nothing but pain for you. And by loving him, you've given us the best and only weapon we could ever need.'

She cracked her knuckles and nodded to the guards. 'Take him away.'

/

Jack paced up and down the cell, hands in the pockets of his coat. He'd made about a thousand plans and rejected them all in turn for various reasons. There didn't seem to be any way to get out of this without them getting hurt or killed. And he wasn't about to lose Ianto for a second time.

Restless, bored, angry and desperately worried, Jack paced until he got pins and needles. Then he sat down and carried on his futile plan-making. By the end of half an hour, he'd thought of… nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. The only sensible thing to do, he decided, was to keep improvising. Take things as they come and deal with them. He wasn't really a plan sort of person. He'd been making things up as he went along for more than two thousand years, and it seemed to have served him well enough.

There was a soft hissing noise. The wall in front of him drew back, but this time it wasn't creating a doorway. There was a glass partition between his cell and the adjoining one, allowing him to see in. Canitia stood there, her grey eyes dark and dangerous. Behind her stood Commander Simmons, and in his grip-

'Ianto!' Jack shouted, running forwards and bashing the glass, which shook but showed no signs of yielding.

'I see our little chat about the pointlessness of love hasn't affected you, Captain,' Canitia sighed.

'I wonder why,' Jack snarled sardonically.

Canitia walked up to the glass and looked into his eyes. Jack raised his head and stared steadily back, meeting her gaze. All of his rage and vengefulness burned in his eyes and Canitia was the first to blink and look away.

'Captain,' she said smoothly. 'I've waited long enough. I've had enough of biding my time to discover where your immortality comes from. Now I'm going to force it out of you, I'm afraid.'

'You can try,' Jack retorted.

'Oh, I will, believe me,' Canitia smiled. She reached a hand into her pocket. 'You see, Commander Simmons's excellent apprehension of you both gave me an idea. I'm afraid you should have listened rather harder when I advised you against loving anybody. Your love for our friend here,'- she dipped her head in Ianto's direction- 'has, as I told you, supplied us with-'

"The best and only weapon you could ever need'- yeah, I know,' Jack snapped.

'You've got the idea,' Canitia beamed, withdrawing her hand from her pocket.

Jack looked at what she was holding and his blood ran cold.

'No,' he whispered hoarsely. 'No, no, no, no, no. Don't you dare.'

'I'm afraid I dare,' Canitia said sweetly.

'No!' Jack threw himself at the glass, but he couldn't get to her, however hard he tried. 'Don't do it! Please!'

'There's only one way to stop me,' Canitia smirked. 'Tell me how I can become like you.'

'Jack, don't tell them!' Ianto yelled.

'You can't! I told you the truth, it's impossible!' Jack shouted at Canitia.

'Very well, then,' Canitia sighed. 'I have to admit myself disappointed in you, Captain, letting your friend suffer like he's about to…'

She adjusted her earpieces. 'One last chance, Mr Harkness. Tell me.'

'_I'm telling you, you can't!' _Jack was half pleading, half shouting. 'Don't! Please! No!'

'I didn't want it to come to this,' Canitia sighed with fake sadness, 'but you leave me no choice.'

She raised the sonic modulator into the air and pressed the button.

'NO!' Jack screamed as Ianto cried out in agony, clasping his hands over his ears in a futile attempt to block out the awful vibration that the modulator created. Jack was unaffected, but the sound of Ianto's cry was almost a physical pain, worse than any of the millions of times he had died.

'Stop!' Jack was pounding on the glass now, shouting out in desperation, trying with all his might to break through, to save Ianto, to stop these monsters from hurting him… but to no avail.

'Please! I'll tell you anything, I swear! Just stop, please, stop! I'll tell you! Leave him alone! Ianto! IANTO!'

Through a world of fire and blood and anguish, Ianto heard Jack's voice calling his name. Somehow, a faint flame of hope flickered into being. He was not alone. Jack was with him. _Not alone, _he thought as he removed his hands from his ears. _Not alone, _he told himself as he staggered to his feet. _Not alone! _he shouted in his mind as he lashed out with his hand, knocking the modulator from Canitia's grip, sending it clattering to the floor.

Finally, there was silence. Beautiful, blessed, wonderful silence. No pain. No torment. Silence.

'You… idiot,' Ianto gasped, trying to be strong though he felt like a small animal must feel when it's caught by a dog and picked up and shaken and thrown aside. 'Listen to him!'

Canitia looked at him in clear surprise. _Who says love is pointless? _Ianto thought fiercely. _I could never have done that without knowing that Jack was here for me._

'If you insist,' Canitia said finally. 'Go on, Captian. I believe you said you'd tell me anything?'

Simmons reached down and picked up the modulator. 'And don't try lying. I'm ready to use this again.'

Jack took a deep breath. _If I tell them, it won't matter anyway, _he told himself. _They can't become immortal. And if I don't tell them, then Ianto… I'll have to tell them._

'I never asked to be immortal,' he began. 'I didn't even know it had happened, at first. I was killed, you see. Ever heard of the daleks?'

Canitia stared at him blankly.

'Lucky you,' Jack told her. 'They killed me. And then… I woke up. I didn't know what had happened. All I could remember was a voice, in my head.'

'And what did it say?' Canitia asked.

Jack closed his eyes. 'It said, _I bring life._'

"I bring life," Canitia repeated thoughtfully. 'All right, Captain. Please continue. This promises to be most interesting.

'I returned to Earth,' Jack carried on. 'And after a while, I died again, and then I woke up.'

He paused as he remembered how he'd told this story before, to the Doctor. He knew he hadn't imagined the guilt in the Doctor's eyes as he'd told him. Jack had tried so hard to forgive him. Maybe he had forgiven him. But he hadn't forgotten, and he never would.

'If I thought that was a little odd, then I was in for a lot more oddity,' Jack continued. 'It just never stopped. I died so many times, in so many ways. I eventually realised that I couldn't die.'

'Very nice,' Canitia hissed, her anticipation clear on her face, 'but how exactly did it happen?'

'I'm coming to that,' Jack said angrily. 'When the daleks killed me, I was travelling with a man called the Doctor. You might not have heard if the daleks, but you must have heard of the Doctor.'

'Never, I'm afraid, except when you mentioned him to your friend Ianto. I was always very intrigued by him. Who is he?'

'He's nobody and everybody,' Jack replied. 'He's the last of the Time Lords.'

'The whats?'

'You've never heard of the Time Lords?' Jack stared at her.

'I have to say I haven't.'

'This is the year five billion and whatever and you still haven't heard of the Time Lords?' Jack shook his head. 'He's a time traveller. He journeys through time and space in his ship, the TARDIS. He defeats terrible creatures, rescues civilizations… and he runs a lot. There's an awful lot of running to do,' Jack said with a slight grin.

'And? Carry on.' Canitia's voice was full of barely supressed eagerness.

'There was a girl, too. Rose. After I died, she opened up the TARDIS. The TARDIS isn't just a ship, it's alive. And in its heart is raw time energy. Rose absorbed the energy. It allowed her to see and manipulate all of time and space.'

'Ah-hah!' Canitia's fists clenched with excitement. 'I think I see what you're getting at. She used it to bring you back to life!'

'Exactly. But she couldn't properly control all of that power. She didn't just bring me back to life, she brought be back to life forever.'

'Amazing!' Canitia looked as if her birthday had come early. 'So all I need to do is find another of these TARDIS things-'

'Ah,' Jack said, 'this is where it gets a little tricky.'

Canitia looked at him. 'What do you mean?'

'The TARDIS is the last of its kind, just like the Doctor. There's not a single other one left. And you'll never find it. The Doctor's pretty much impossible to find.'

Canitia frowned. 'Hmm, yes, I can see the flaw in that. Never mind, I'll just find this girl Rose and-'

'Yeah,' Jack sniggered, beginning to enjoy himself, 'but there's a problem with that, too. She's trapped in a parallel universe. You'll never find her, either.'

Canitia looked alarmed. 'All right, well, I'm sure there must be another TARDIS somewhere! I'll find one of them, and then I'll open it-'

'Sure you will,' Jack laughed, 'but here comes problem number three. The time vortex is too powerful to be contained in a human body for long. If the Doctor hadn't taken all the energy out of Rose, it would have burned her to death. So even if you do find a TARDIS, and manage to open it-'

'So? I'll just get someone else to open it!'

Ianto also laughed. 'And how do you know they won't just make themselves immortal and not you?'

Canitia looked around frantically, as if expecting to see the answer written on a wall. 'Bollocks!' she screamed finally.

'Um. Are you all right, ma'am?' Commander Simmons looked slightly scared.

Canitia looked at him and her cruel smile returned. 'Ah, Commander, I'd almost forgotten you were there.'

'Ma'am, I'm sure we can find a way to make ourselves immortal-'

'Ourselves?' Canitia cackled. 'Commander, did you honestly think that I was going to share the secret with anyone? You're even more of a fool that I thought! But now you know the secret-'

In a trice, she had whipped her gun from her holster and fired. The weapon coughed out the bullet. Simmons stood stock still, staring at her in shock. Then he fell sideways to the floor, twitched twice, and lay limply on the ground, red blood trickling across his crisp, clean uniform, onto the white floor.

Jack and Ianto stared. 'You're insane,' Ianto told Canitia finally.

'Most probably,' she replied calmly. 'I'll think about what you've said, Captain. For now, I'd best go and discuss this with my colleagues.'

She smiled and replaced her gun. The door-wall in Ianto's cell slid back, allowing her to step outside. 'Bye for now,' she said pleasantly, as the wall ground back into place.

Jack pressed his hands against the glass partition. 'Ianto, are you ok?'

'Been better.' Ianto smiled bravely.

'Ianto, I'm sorry-'

'Don't start.' Ianto said firmly. He raised his hand so that it lay against the screen in the same position as Jack's, with only two centimetres of glass between them.

'It won't do to have you two chatting,' came Harman's voice from the speakers. A moment later, they heard the tell-tale hiss that signalled that the wall was about to separate them again.

'Ianto, we will get out of here!' Jack yelled, trying to put some conviction behind the words. 'We will! I promise! We-'

He got no further. The wall pushed his hands out of the way and glided across the glass, hiding Ianto from view.

'Ianto!' Jack banged on the wall, mentally pleading with it to move, but it stayed firmly and heartlessly still. 'Ianto!' He sank to his knees, fighting back tears. 'Ianto…'

But there was no reply, only silence.


	9. Chaos

Chapter Nine- Chaos

The knowledge that Jack was just on the other side of the wall, and yet was so far out of reach, was the worst thing of all for Ianto in the desolate hours that followed. In eerie emptiness, he sat without moving, waiting. Waiting for something, for anything. A voice in the silence. Colour in the blinding whiteness. A friend in a cruel, hostile world.

But had only one friend here, and though he was less than a metre away, Jack was as far away from Ianto as he'd ever been. It was complete and utter torture- far worse than anything Canitia could have done with the sonic modulator- to be kept from Jack now.

The wall hissed open. Ianto glanced up long enough to see that it was another novice healer cat, before looking at the floor again.

'Here. Food,' snapped the cat, her voice much more harsh than Jilani's. She pretty much smashed the tray down on the floor. 'Matron Catra's orders were to keep you alive. Heaven knows why.' She gave a sniff.

'Probably because they want to torture me again to make Jack tell them all about how he became immortal,' Ianto muttered bitterly.

'Yes, well, while your friend Harkness lives forever, not everyone can boast that,' the cat growled.

'He never asked to, you know! And he always told me that nobody in their right minds would ever want to become immortal. And Canitia won't tell you how anyway. She only wants to use it for herself. She shot that Commander person dead, because he knew how Jack became immortal.'

'I wasn't talking about myself,' the cat snarled. 'I was talking about Jilani.'

'Jilani?' Ianto asked, looking up at her in surprise.

The cat gave a long sigh. 'I'm Keena. Jilani was my friend. You got her killed.'

Ianto stood up. 'She knew what she was doing. I'm as sorry as you are.'

'Sorry you might be, but she's dead all the same.' Keena's voice trembled slightly, as if she was fighting back tears. 'And if it wasn't for you and your friend, she'd still be alive.'

'Look, I've lost friends. People I've loved. So has Jack- too many to count.' Ianto's throat constricted as he remembered his father, Lisa, Owen and Tosh. 'The thing is, Keena, when bad stuff happens, when people's lives are put in danger, that's when you have to make a choice. You have to decide whether you're going to stay hidden in the shadows and do nothing while innocent people suffer and die, and then hate yourself later for not taking action, or you can get out there and fight. That's what I did at Torchwood. That's what I did for all of my life that meant anything. And that's what Jilani did too.'

'And where did it get you, fighting?' Keena hissed. 'Dead! You died, and so did Jilani, because you fought!'

'I was happy to die for what was right!' Ianto said, more loudly. 'I died trying to save millions of children from a terrible fate they didn't deserve. And Jilani died to try and save millions of lives as well- can you imagine the sort of awful things someone like Canitia or Harman might do with the power of immortality? Think of how many people would die!'

'Oh, so now you're trying to persuade me to help you.' Keena's eyes were narrow slits of fury. 'Well, why should I help the one responsible for the death of my best friend?'

'Well said, Novice Keena,' said the voice of Matron Catra, echoing around the room. 'Now, hurry up, girl, there's work for you in the medical bay.'

'Coming, Matron,' Keena called, and flounced out of the room the moment the door was opened without a backwards glance.

'Jilani died so that Canitia and her lot would never become immortal!' Ianto shouted after her. 'Are you going to let her sacrifice be in vain?'

He saw Keena pause in the doorway, and for a moment hope rose in his heart. But then she shook her head slightly and carried on, the door sliding shut behind her.

With a disappointed sigh, Ianto sat back down and closed his eyes.

/

Harman took off his earphones and turned to Canitia, anger smouldering in his normally emotionless grey eyes. 'Well? Is this true, what he said? Did you shoot Commander Simmons?'

'I did,' Canitia said slowly.

Harman stood up, giving his colleague a look of death. 'And you were going to keep the secret of immortality to yourself? Without telling any of us? No wonder there was a sudden power cut in that cell! You did it, didn't you, so that the microphones would go down and we wouldn't be able to hear! You did it so that you'd be the only one to find out!'

Canitia remained silent, not knowing what to say.

Matron Catra shot her a look of pure loathing. 'You disgust me. We agreed, the three of us, that when we discovered how to use Harkness's power, we would share it! Was that all a lie, right from the start?'

'Don't pretend you wouldn't have done it,' Canitia spluttered, desperately seeking a way out.

'Was everything you told us a lie, then?' Harman snarled. 'That far-fetched story you told us, about him being affected by the atmosphere on an alien planet- I could tell there was something strange about it, and now I see what it was! You invented it!'

'I did not!' Canitia lied.

'Liar!' Catra shouted. 'I knew it wasn't a physical condition! I'm a healer, a doctor! I know about that sort of thing. Oh, I suspected you were keeping something from us, but I never imagine that it was all a barefaced lie!'

'What do you take us for?' Harman roared. 'Did you really think we were that stupid?'

'Obviously she did, seeing as she had the nerve to tell us an outright lie,' Catra hissed.

'All right, I'm sorry!' Canitia bellowed, her face red. 'I admit I lied to you, but I'll tell you the truth!'

'It's too late for that,' Harman growled. 'You played us false, now you can pay the price!'

He drew his gun, but Canitia was quick. Within seconds she had run for the door and was fleeing down the corridor, and Harman's bullets whistled harmlessly through the air, embedding themselves in the walls.

'Quick! Contact the troops! We mustn't let her get away!' Harman ordered Catra, running to a control panel and flicking switches as fast as he could.

Catra's eyes widened as she tried to activate the speakers. 'Communication with the barracks is down! She must have done something!'

'Dammit!' Harman slammed his hand down on the console in frustration. 'Quick, we have to get to the barracks before she does!'

'But she has the security codes for the doors! She could lock us out or the barracks easily! We'll never get through in time to stop her.'

Harman swore violently. 'Then go to the medical bay, as quickly as you can, and gather all your healers. They may not have guns, but they do have claws, and they outnumber the soldiers. And I'll go and get my Flesh team. That'll boost our numbers by about twenty.'

Catra nodded and dashed off. Harman readied his gun and hurried down the corridors.

'Harman, wait! What about Harkness and Jones?' Catra called out.

Harman thought. 'We still need them, or we'll never become immortal. Leave them for now.'

'And what do we do with them afterwards?'

Harman narrowed his eyes. 'Well, Harkness can't be killed. But we can lock him in a cell somewhere and forget about him. Once we've got his power, he'll be of no further use.'

'And Jones?'

'Jones? He was only ever needed to persuade Harkness.' Harman smiled evilly. 'Once this is over, kill him.'

/

Canitia typed in the security code for the door to the barracks as fast as her shaking fingers would allow. As soon as the door was open wide enough for her to enter, she raced inside, panting hard.

'Listen to me, all of you!' she called to the soldiers who were sitting idly around. 'Harman and Matron Catra have betrayed the EEF. They have discovered the secret of immortality, and intend to use it for themselves, without sharing it with any of us.'

Several of the troops gave exclamations of anger. Many leaped to their feet, readying their weapons.

'I need you to apprehend them. Kill them if you need to. Section one, you go to Central Command, they might be there trying to gain access to the security codes. Section two, I need you to go to Control, they might still be there. Section three, report to the Flesh management area, that's where Harman works and ten to one he'll be trying to convince his workers to help him. And section four, you go to the medical bay, in case Catra's skulking around there. And finally, who's second in command here, after Commander Simmons?'

'That's me, I suppose,' drawled a huge, blonde-haired man who was loading his gun, which was almost as massive as he was.

'Name, soldier?'

'Deputy Commander Allen, Ma'am.'

'Commander Simmons is dead. You are therefore promoted to Commander of these troops. Understood?'

'Yes ma'am!' Allen barked instantly.

'And the rest of you? From now on, if Commander Allen says run, you run. If he says fight, you fight. If he says jump, you don't even ask how high, you just jump. Has everyone got that?'

'Yes ma'am!' shouted forty voices.

'Good. Now, move, all of you! If you want to become immortal, Catra and Harman must be stopped!' Canitia ordered.

With yells and shouting and stamping of feet, the troops cascaded like a bellowing uniformed river out of the door and into the facility. The moment they were gone, Canitia smiled her deadly smile.

'Fools,' she whispered. She crossed over to one of the benches and picked up a pistol that had been left behind. Loading it, she tucked it into her pocket. 'I'll be needing this,' she chuckled, tapping the pocket as she slipped out of the door. 'Now, Ianto Jones, I believe I have a score to settle with you!'

/

The hissing whirr of the door opening roused Jack from a shallow, fitful sleep. He pulled himself up using the wall and faced the cat person who entered. 'What is it now?'

'Come with me. Quickly.' The young cat glanced around anxiously.

Jack put his hands in his pockets and glared at her. 'Why?'

The cat hissed, and her tail lashed violently. 'Because if you don't, you will be left in this cell for the rest of your life and your lover will be murdered! Now, move! In case you hadn't noticed, I am trying to save your miserable skin!'

Suspicious, but not seeing what else to do, Jack followed her out of the cell. The cat darted over to the cell next door and pressed the blue circle to open the door. Jack hurried over, pushed the cat out of the way and shouted Ianto's name.

'Shut up, you brainless twit of a human!' the cat hissed. 'We'll be caught!'

'Ianto, wake up!' Jack sprinted into the cells and shook Ianto, who appeared to be sleeping was restlessly as Jack had. Ianto opened his eyes and blinked blearily. 'Jack, what-?' He saw the cat standing there and his eyes widened as he scrambled up. 'Novice Keena!'

'That's the name, don't wear it out,' Keena snapped shortly. 'Now, follow me, and fast!'

'You changed your mind, then,' Ianto noted, as they rushed out of the cell.

Keena sighed as she led them down a corridor. 'I thought about what you said. In fact, I couldn't stop thinking about it. And you were right. It's what Jilani would have wanted. But that's not my only reason for saving you.'

'What are the other reasons, then?'

Keena snorted. 'You remember you said about how Canitia planned to become immortal and not tell anyone else how? Well, we were being listened to, and Harman and Matron Catra have ganged up on Canitia. She's got the entire armed force mobilised, trying to find them. They've got the medical and Flesh teams fighting the troops. It's complete and utter chaos- pretty much a miniature civil war out there.'

'Perfect cover for us to get away,' Jack said with a grin.

'Yes, my thoughts exactly. But unfortunately the doors have been deadlock sealed by that little worm Canitia. Nobody is getting in or out of this place- unless we can get our paws on the transport devices. The EEF has got a supply of time and space travel devices stored in Transport. They made them from a space and time ship that crashed on New Earth a long time ago. With luck, we can teleport ourselves out. And I think they've got your Vortex Manipulator too, Captain.'

'Great. So we're going there, right?' Jack inquired.

'Yes, but not alone. It's not just me who disagrees with what Harman, Catra and Canitia are up to. This way.'

Keena led them into a smaller corridor where a group of assorted cats and humans- as well as a man who looked rather like a scaly green lizard- were huddled in a corner. The lizard-thing jumped up as they approached. 'Keena, is that you? Have you got them?'

'Yes, to both questions,' Keena hissed hurriedly. She turned to Jack and Ianto. 'This is everyone I could find who's agreed to help us. This is Pysha, Cassa and Cami- novice healers like me.'

The one called Cassa dipped her head to them, her whiskers twitching. 'It's an honour to meet you both.'

Cami nodded. 'We're proud to fight by your sides.'

'This is Elif- he's part of the Flesh team,' Keena continued, pointing to the lizard-man.

'You're an Alvarian?' Jack asked him, looking interested.

'Yes, indeed!' the lizard beamed, looking pleasantly surprised.

'Thought so. Met one of your species before. Very good looking girl, she was. Beautiful eyes.'

'Jack,' Ianto said warningly.

'Sorry.'

'And finally, Trooper Fox, Lieutenant Hawke and Trooper Davin.'

Hawke threw a salute. 'Unlike the rest of our thick-brained platoon, we didn't fall for Canitia's story. She's no more likely to give us the secret of immortality as she is to fly toApalapucia next Tuesday,' he told them.

'To where?' Ianto asked in confusion.

'Apalapucia. Number 2 in the top ten destinations for the discerning space traveller,' Jack explained.

'We need to get the transporters,' Keena said to the group, 'but first we'll need to get to Central Command so that we can get the codes to unlock the doors. Lieutenant, you take Pysha and Cassa and try and do that. I'll go with Elif and Ianto to get transporters for all of us. Cami and the Captain-'

'That sounds like a bad pop group,' commented Trooper Fox.

'Cami and the Captain can go with you two troopers to free the rest of the prisoners. I think there's a switch or something that unlocks all the cells in the control room,' Keena finished, ignoring Fox.

'Are there a lot of prisoners here, then?' Ianto asked.

'Oh, yes, far too many for my liking,' Elif said unhappily. 'Most of them are Flesh models, you see, for varying different projects the EEF has. We've been investigating immortality for years, you see, before we found out about you, Captain- we've looked at Time Lord regeneration, and nanogenes bringing people back to life, and many others too.'

'So you do know about Time Lords, after all!' Jack said accusingly.

'Ah, well,' Elif murmured uneasily, clasping his paws together in an uncertain sort of way. 'I'm sure Canitia didn't really know about them. She wasn't in charge of the EEF in the days when we were investigating regeneration.'

'So you know about Time Lords here, but not the Doctor,' Jack muttered. 'And people call me a nutter.'

'So are we all agreed?' Keena asked, looking rather angry at all the interruptions.

Eight heads nodded, but Jack didn't move. 'I'm not leaving Ianto.'

'Yes, you are,'Keena growled, sounding irritated. 'Think about it, Captain. If some of us are captured, then isn't it better for either you or Ianto to be caught, than both of you?'

Jack frowned, but eventually he gave a reluctant nod.

'Right, then. Everyone get going! Don't worry about being spied on, Elif and I smashed up the cameras and speaker system. I've got earpieces here for everyone who doesn't have one, so we can stay in contact at all times.' Keena offered one to the three soldiers, Jack and Ianto.

'OK, team. Let's move,' Hawke said briskly, signaling to his group to leave. 'Good luck, everyone.'

Jack looked anxiously at Ianto. 'Are you sure about this?'

'Don't worry about me,' Ianto assured him. 'I'll be fine, honestly.'

Jack nodded. 'You'd better be.' He gave Ianto a gentle kiss, and Ianto closed his eyes, enjoying the last few seconds of peace before all hell broke loose. 'I am not losing you again.'

As they made their way down the corridors towards the transportation room, Ianto couldn't help but feel uneasy about how still and silent it was. There were no battling soldiers, no sounds of gunfire, nothing. But he wasn't fooled. Ianto knew well that this was nothing but the deep breath before the plunge, the calm before the storm, the quiet before the chaos began.


	10. Eternity

Chapter Ten- Eternity

Jack raced after the troopers and Cami. The EEF was mazelike and confusing, but the others seemed to know their way perfectly, as well as they knew the back of their own hands- or, in Cami's case, paws. They charged through doors, down stairs, and along corridors. At one point they heard the sound of gunshots and raised voices from the bottom of a staircase they were about to descend and had to double back and find a different way. But other than that, everything went as smooth as cream.

After what seemed like forever and a day, the small group arrived at their destination. CONTROL was printed above the doorway in huge, imposing blue letters.

Jack touched his earpiece. 'Lieutenant? Pysha, Cassa? Have you managed to unlock the doors?'

'Doing it now, sir,' came Cassa's voice. 'We've nearly figured out the code. Just give us a minute.'

'Well, be as quick as you can,' Keena chivvied her. 'We can't get into the Transport centre without the door codes.'

'All the security pass cards have been disabled by that little-' here Pysha used a word Jack didn't understand but was clearly some sort of feline swearword, '-Canitia. So if you tap the blue circle twice, a selection of numbers and pictures will come up. We've almost worked out what the code is.'

'Well, hurry,' Trooper Davin ordered impatiently.

'We're hurrying, we're hurrying!' Cassa sounded flustered. 'OK, here we go. I think it's seven, five, diamond, one, star.'

Jack nodded and slapped the blue circle on the door twice with his hand. As Pysha had promised, a hidden panel on the door flipped downwards, revealing a group of buttons. 'Can you repeat the code?' he asked, hand hovering over them. 'Seven, five, diamond, right?'

'Seven, five, diamond, one, star,' Lieutenant Hawke told him, and Jack pressed the buttons as he said the words. There was a faint click, then the door slid open with the usual humming hiss. Jack, Cami and Trooper Fox darted inside.

'I'll stay out here,' Davin called, 'to keep watch, and to let you out again in case the door closes on you.'

'Good plan,' Cami said, nodding to him. 'Now, come on, team. One of these levers and switches and stuff unlocks each and every one of the cells. The only question is, which one?'

'Could it perhaps be the one with 'Cell Lock Deactivation,' written next to it in big letters?' Fox inquired, pointing.

Jack sniggered. 'I wonder what gave you _that _idea,' he laughed jokingly. 'I've a _tiny _hunch that you're probably right.'

Fox yanked the lever down. There was a sudden clanking noise, followed by a series of hisses. Jack knew that, all over the compound, cell doors were sliding open, releasing the prisoners. He wondered who they were, why there were here, how long they'd been here for.

'We've done what we came here to do.' Cami turned to them. 'Now we need to find the others. Fast.'

'I'm going to find Ianto,' Jack said instantly.

'Do you want us to come with you?'

'No, I'll be fine on my own,' Jack replied, and from his tone it was pretty obvious what he meant. _Don't follow me._

'All right. We'll go and find the others in Central Command,' Cami agreed with a nod. 'Don't take any unnecessary risks, and don't go running into trouble-'

She found herself speaking to the wall. Jack was already gone.

She turned with a shrug to Trooper Fox. 'Pretty devoted, isn't he?'

Fox gave a sad sort of smile. 'It's sweet, but sad, too. One day, Ianto's going to die again, and the Captain will have to go through all that grief a second time. Maybe it would have been better if he'd died for real.'

'At least this gives them a second chance. All the potential there was for a real, big relationship between them, that was all snatched away by the 456. Now they have a chance to be together, knowing what they really mean to each other.'

Trooper Fox nodded slowly. 'I guess you're right.' He gave a theatrical sigh. 'They're luckier than they realise, if you ask me. I don't think I'll ever find anyone who cares for me that much.'

Cami burst out laughing. 'And I suppose that's your very roundabout way of asking me out on a date?'

Fox gulped. He hadn't realised he'd been that obvious. 'Um, well…'

Cami smiled at him. 'The answer's yes, by the way. If we both make it through this, then let's meet up afterwards.'

Fox grinned. 'Sure!'

'Hey, lovebirds!' Jack's voice came over the earpieces. 'It's a good idea to switch off your comms, so I can't hear every word you're saying, you know.'

The cat and the soldier looked at each other with faces that said quite clearly, _Oh, please let the ground open and swallow us up._

'Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Which way to Transport?'

'Um…' Cami's fur was lying flatter than usual, a cat's way of blushing. 'I'll, er, direct you…'

With her instructions sounding in his ears, Jack hurried off through the twisting, confusing passages, towards Ianto.

/

Ianto crept down the corridor as fast and quietly as he possible could after Elif and Keena. The cat and the Alvarian were far lighter on their feet than he was, and he couldn't help but feel that he was being so loud as to be far more of a hindrance than a help.

Every noise, however quiet, seemed deafeningly loud. Their breathing, their footsteps, the swish of Elif's scaly tail- any sound was so piercing in the quiet as to be almost unbearable. He was relieved when Elif whispered, 'Almost there. It's just down this corridor.'

'And where, exactly, do you think you're going?' came a voice.

They spun around. The enormous Commander Allen was aiming his gun right at them.

Elif and Keena whipped guns out of nowhere. 'Ianto, run! We'll hold him off! Get to the time travel things!' Elif shouted, and Ianto, not knowing what else to do, ran.

Gunshots sounded from behind him, and a voice cried out in pain. Ianto hoped with all his heart it was not Keena or Elif who was hurt. If they died, he would never forgive himself. 'Which way now?' he shouted into his comm.

'It's on your left at the end of this corridor,' came Cassa's reassuringly calm voice.

'Great. Cassa, the others have been found. Elif and Keena. One of those soldiers caught us… they need help.'

'Sure. I'll send some of the others. Just find the Transport room. Lock yourself in. The soldiers here don't know the codes, you'll be safe.'

'OK, thanks.' Ianto kept sprinting at full speed until he finally arrived at the Transport room door. He tapped in the code and raced inside. Then he leaned against the wall and gasped for air. Not until he'd caught his breath did he turn around, and when he did, his eyes widened.

The time travel devices were everywhere- lining the walls of the huge, circular room. They were small, about the size of his hand, rust brown coloured, and shaped like hemispheres. He'd never seen anything like them before, yet somehow he knew what they were. It was exactly like Jack's description of the moment he'd seen Ianto again- like a joke you could remember, without remembering who told it to you. He knew that he knew what they were, but he couldn't remember _what _they were. He clapped a hand to his head in frustration. _How do you know them, Ianto? _he demanded of himself. _How do you know them?_

It had something to do with Jack. They were to do with Jack's past… the time before he joined Torchwood. OK, so what might that be? Ianto ran through Jack's life in his head. Something to do with the Boeshane Peninsula, and his family? No, definitely not. The Time Agency? Ianto didn't think so. So what happened after the Time Agency? He'd met the Doctor, and travelled with him and Rose in the TARDIS-

The sudden realisation was like a physical blow to the head. Ianto's eyes, already wide, grew even wider. Of course! Of _course! _Jack's description of the TARDIS came to him in a flash- 'it's a wonderful place, Ianto. Bigger on the inside, for a start. The Doctor says it goes on forever- even he's never found the end of it. The control room is the best place. It's got all of these tall buttresses all around, like coral, and a console in the middle of the room, filled with some sort of bluish light. When you lay your hands on the console, you can feel the TARDIS's heart, feel that it's alive. And the walls are lined with these hemispheres, small and rust coloured…'

That was what these were! They'd been taken from a TARDIS! What had Keena said about the time travel devices? Something about them being taken from the remains of a space and time ship that had crashed on New Earth… this was salvaged TARDIS technology! He ran over to the wall and lifted one device from its hook. Turning it over, he saw a screen on the other sides with a keypad of numbers beneath. Two smaller, separate screens, had captions above- 'date' and 'location'. Obviously this was where you typed in the time and place you wanted to go to. There were several other switches and dials he didn't understand, too. And, clutching the object in his hands, Ianto could feel a slight pulsation in the device. A sort of thrumming, like there was energy trapped inside it… the gadget contained a little piece of the heart of the TARDIS it had come from! It was alive, and it contained a tiny piece of the Time Vortex itself! Ianto supposed that the device harnessed the time energy and used it to transport the bearer across time and space. This was amazing! Ianto couldn't wait to see what Jack would say about these. Tosh would have liked to see them, he realised sadly. She had loved technology like this. Ianto laughed out loud as an ironic thought struck him- Canitia had been so upset about not being able to find a TARDIS to become immortal, when all along she'd had a whole load of bits of a TARDIS, almost right under her nose!

The thought came, sudden and sharp, taking Ianto's breath away as if an invisible eagle had swooped down inside him and snatched the air from his lungs, then soared away with it. He had to grasp at the wall for support. Again, he leaned against it, panting. The opportunity… the tiny chance… No! He couldn't do that, could he?

Could he?

Should he?

Would he?

Dare he?

Ianto thought. He thought hard. He stood there for at least five minutes, hardly moving, holding the precious little piece of TARDIS in his hands.

He made the decision.

With his mind, he reached out to the life inside the device. _How do I set you free? _TARDISes, he knew, were telepathic. And this little life, the tiny spark of energy, answered his unspoken question. There were no words- it was as if the gadget had implanted the knowledge inside his mind. With trembling hands, Ianto turned the thing over. There was a tiny groove in the side of the hemisphere. He inserted the tip of his finger into it and pulled.

There was a click. For a moment, everything was stillness and silence, then the device seemed to snap open as if hinged. A glowing burst of energy sprang from inside it. Ianto held the machine up to his face. The energy hovered in the air for a moment. Then Ianto looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into him.

And Ianto Jones saw eternity.

He saw the universe. Everything that ever had ever existed. Everything that was. Everything that would ever be. He saw it all. It flowed inside his mind; it was one with him. Time, time and space itself cascaded inside his brain like a waterfall of knowledge. The Vortex entered his heart. It entered his mind. It entered his soul. It was so strong, stronger than anything else in existence. Ianto looked into it- and he was amazed by just how enormous it was. Compared to the universe, this mighty universe full of power and weakness and death and life and awe and wonder, was it possible for him to be any tinier, any more insignificant?

_Concentrate_, the vortex whispered in his mind. It was one voice, yet is seemed like many, as if every person Ianto had ever known was speaking to him at once. _Remember what you came here for._

Ianto remembered. He looked into the universe again and sought out a single moment. Time flowed backwards for him, coming to rest in a place of death. He watched. Three terrible creatures faced a lone warrior, a warrior who was fighting for the lives of millions, ready to sell himself to save them. The warrior's weapon failed. He threw it aside. He faced his enemies.

They were in no hurry- they moved almost lazily, waiting a few moments before readying their guns and pointing them at him.

He faced them with honour and courage. Not that he wasn't afraid. Ianto could almost taste his fear, rank and bubbling in the air around him. He was prepared to die, but he was afraid to. Ianto's heart filled with sympathy. And also with respect. For this was true courage- not being fearless, but being filled with fear and facing up to it.

The creatures faced him.

_Exterminate, _grated one.

_I kind of figured that, _the warrior replied.

He closed back his eyes and held out his arms, as if embracing his own death.

There was a noise in the silence, a movement in the stillness. A bolt of glowing energy struck the warrior directly in the chest. He glowed as he was thrown backwards, back against the wall, an empty shell of a man, limp and lifeless, head hanging over his shoulder. The fear that had filled the air was gone- gone with its creator.

Ianto quietly suggested that time showed him another moment, and with a roaring noise, like the sea crashing against a cliff, the universe turned. Ianto looked down on the same scene, but this time there were voices, voices echoing in his ears.

_Rose, you've done it, now stop, _pleaded the voice of a man. _Just let go!_

_How can I let go of this? _This time a woman, sounding scared, awed, and maybe just a little tearful. Ianto knew what she was about to say next. How could he not know?

He looked down at Jack, who lay dead against the wall.

The woman's voice echoed into eternity.

_I bring life!_

And Jack lived.

And Ianto knew, knew with a certainty that was stronger than himself that this was the moment that the impossible happened. This was the moment that something that could not happen came to pass. This was the moment that time became flesh. This was the moment that Captain Jack Harkness became immortal.

_Forwards, _Ianto told time.

And he saw another man, a different man, a younger man, a man who seemed familiar, though Ianto didn't know where from. He had a feeling that he should know, that he ought to know… but he ignored it. He watched the man. He was standing in a room, a white, large, circular room, with rusty-coloured devices lining the walls. In his hands, the man held one of them. He was gazing inside it, and his eyes glowed with light and life.

Ianto looked at the man, looked at himself (yes, himself, of course, it was himself, how could he have not realised that?) and made a single change.

And it was done.

_My work is done, _he told the universe. _Farewell…_

It was hard, so hard to let go… but he had to. For Jack.

Ianto let go.

It was sudden, as if a hand had snatched it from his head. Eternity vanished. The universe vanished. Everything vanished.

The world went black.


	11. Life

Chapter Eleven- Life

A line of bullets sprayed into the air, heading for Jack's head. He ducked easily, and the bullets smacked into the walls. Jack raised his gun and fired a single shot. A cry of angony told him he'd hit his attacker. He darted out of the corridor and down a flight of stairs. He'd heard over the comms that Elif, Keena and Ianto had been found. Ianto had managed to get away, but Elif and Keena were still in a shoot-out and needed help.

He could here that he was getting close because of the noise. Not just gunshots- they were everywhere now- but the swishing sound of Elif's tail and the angry bellows of Commander Allen. He ducked behind a door, choosing his moment.

As he raced out, he could see Elif and Keena, repeatedly ducking behind some some sort of control desk to fire at Allen, who had his back to him. Allen was also using a control panel for cover. It was clear that all three had been injured- Keena was using her left hand to fire, as if her right arm was hurt, Elif had a wound on his cheek where a bullet had grazed it, and bright red blood was seeping through Allen's crisp white uniform at his left shoulder. Jack prepared to fire, but then thought about what Ianto would say when he found out that Jack had shot a man from behind. He changed the angle of his gun and aimed at Allen's arm instead. The bullet hit home. Allen dropped his weapon with a howl. Jack ran forwards and kicked it away. Elif stooped and picked it up.

'Ianto?' Jack shouted, over the cacophony of battle.

'He went to Transport,' Keena yelled, 'haven't heard from him since.'

Jack spoke into his comm. 'Ianto, you there?'

'Fine.' Ianto sounded slightly dazed. 'I'm coming.'

Jack gave a sigh of relief. 'OK, but be careful.'

'The others are coming too,' Elif told Jack, as he massaged his injured cheek. 'We've lost Trooper Davin- Harman shot him from behind- and Pysha's been badly hurt, but other than that, everything's gone fine.'

In about five minutes they were all gathered together. Keena wasted no time throwing Allen into one of the cells- 'Pray that we survive, so that we can come and let you out,' she snarled at him as she did- and calling a meeting of the nine of them who remained.

'Poor bloody Max,' Hawke said sadly. Jack assumed that Max was Davin's first name. 'Harman shot him in the back. Didn't stand a chance. Poor kid- he was only twenty. He had his whole life ahead of him.'

'We can mourn him later, Lieutenant,' Keena said firmly. 'He died fighting, as he would have wanted to. Now we have to focus on the living.'

'Look,' Cassa piped up, 'I've thought of something. The prisoners. We can't just teleport out and leave them to get slaughtered. We have to find them and try and help them.'

'Cassa's right,' Pysha said with a wince, from where she sat with her back to the wall, Cami bandaging her wounded arm. 'There are hundreds of them. With their help, it'd be far easier to overthrow this pla- ow!'

'Sorry,' Cami squeaked guiltily, loosening the bandage a bit.

Keena nodded. 'I can see the sense in that. All right. Ianto, Captain, you go to Transport. Guard the time travel devices and don't let any of the enemy take them. The rest of us will go and round up the others.'

'Sure,' Jack said, and Ianto nodded.

They split up. As they made their way down the passageway towards Transport, Jack noticed that Ianto kept shooting him glances and opening his mouth as if about to speak, then closing his mouth again and frowning in a thoughtful way.

'Ianto, you OK? You keep giving me these looks.'

'What? Oh, right…' Ianto looked slightly anguished. 'There's, uh, something I need to tell you…'

Jack's brow furrowed. 'What?'

'Whatever it is, you'll never find out,' snarled a voice from behind them.

They spun around.

Canitia. Her normally flawless white hair hung in rat's tails, her coat was streaked with blood, and her eyes were grey hollows of madness. She was bleeding from a bullet wound in her left arm, but her right arm was unhurt, and in her hand was a gun. And she was pointing it at Ianto.

'You did this,' she hissed, her voice as fierce and deadly as the snarl of a cornered, angry cat. 'You ruined it. You told that cat what I intended to do… you destroyed it! My life's work! I put so much effort into this; I sold my soul to it. And you, Ianto Jones, you brought about its destruction!' Saliva flew from her mouth as she spoke, and her eyes bulged with insanity.

'Put it down, Canitia,' Ianto told her, clearly and firmly. 'It's over. The EEF is finished. There's no need for this. We've got no quarrel with you.' Jack gave him a funny look- as far as he was concerned they had a really rather large quarrel with Canitia- but Ianto didn't notice. 'We just want to live in peace. Just put it down. It's over.'

Canitia stood still, eyes flicking from Jack to Ianto. Her hand clenched around the gun. 'Yes. Yes, it's over. For you and for me. If I am going to die, then I'm taking you with me! You did this to me, Ianto Jones- now pay the price!'

Her finger moved a fraction, tugging on the trigger.

It was another moment in time when the world stands still and time slows down, so that seconds take years. Jack's eyes widened in horror. He saw the flash of fire, the plume of smoke fly from the muzzle. He heard himself cry out as he dashed forwards, in a desperate attempt to either stop Canitia from firing or to shield Ianto's body with his own, to take the bullet for him, to save him. But he wasn't fast enough. Ianto stood stock still, an expression of acute surprise on his face, the bullet buried in his chest.

There was a second bang, and time sped up to its normal pace. Ianto fell to the ground, but at the same moment, so did Canitia. Bright red blossomed over her white coat as a bullet hit her in the back and punched straight through to her heart. Canitia, leader of the EEF, was dead before she realised what had happened. She pitched forwards and collapsed, the gun flying from her lifeless fingers, revealing a young cat girl- not one that Jack knew- standing behind her, arm outstretched, holding the weapon that had ended Canitia's life clutched in her paw, an expression of wonder and horror heavy on her face. 'I shot her!' she squeaked. 'I've never killed anything in my life!' The gun slipped from her hand and fell to the floor with a clatter.

Jack ignored her. He half collapsed to the ground and grabbed Ianto in his arms. A terrible feeling of déjà vu came over him. 'Ianto! Ianto, are you ok?'

Ianto's voice was weak and strained. 'Been… better,' he gasped, with a faint chuckle.

'Ianto, don't worry, you're gonna be ok. I'll get help.' He looked around wildly, and his gaze fell on the cat. 'You're a healer? Help him!'

The cat shook her head, eyes filled with distress. 'I'm sorry… there's nothing I can do.'

'No!' Jack's head snapped back to Ianto, his panic visible in his every move. 'Ianto, you can't die! Not now! Not after all of this!'

'Jack-' Ianto's breaths came in short, shallow gasps, which, Jack noticed with terror, were rapidly becoming weaker. He could almost feel Ianto's life slipping away, disappearing forever.

'Ianto, please. Stay with me. I can't live, not without you! Please, Ianto…' He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and looked right into Ianto's. 'I love you.'

_Why now? _he thought. _Why did I wait until now to say it? Why now, when it's too late?_

A smile spread over Ianto's face. 'Love you too, Jack,' he whispered, barely audible.

His eyes slid shut, and he let out a small sigh.

And then-

Just like that-

In the space of a single second-

He was gone.

Jack froze, not moving an inch. No. No. No, it couldn't be true!

But it was.

'Why?' Jack raised his head and roared the word out into the air- to the dead form of Canitia, to Ianto, to the cat girl who stood with her hands clapped to her mouth, to whatever cruel God who had let the man he loved die. 'Why him, why now? Why now, after everything? _Why?'_

The cat, Ianto, Canitia and any Gods that might be listening did not reply. The only answer was the echo of his own voice, rebounding off the walls. _Why? Why? Why?_

For at least a whole minute, Jack stayed there, looking wordlessly at Ianto. He didn't cry. His grief was far beyond tears. It was beyond the word grief- it was total and utter devastation. In a single moment, his entire world- no, his entire universe- had been torn apart and completely destroyed.

He buried his head in his hands, and shut out the rest of the universe. At that moment, Captain Jack Harkness just didn't want to live anymore.

And so he didn't see the cat's eyes widen in amazement. He didn't hear her gasp of astonishment. He didn't see Ianto's eyes flutter open, or his chest begin to rise and fall again as he started to breathe.

But he did hear the long, shuddering gasp that he himself and given on so, so many occasions.

He brought his hands away from his face and saw-

He saw Ianto come back to life.

Jack's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Ianto lay on the floor, breathing heavily. 'That… _really_… hurt,' he said finally.

'You're… you're alive!' Jack exclaimed, really rather pointlessly.

'Er, yeah,' Ianto replied.

'Um… how are you alive?' was Jack's next, baffled question.

Ianto smiled. He didn't smile enough, Jack thought, and it was a wonderful smile. 'I'll show you.' He clambered unsteadily to his feet, looking a little disorientated. He shook his head slightly and looked up. His smile widened, and blank shock showed on his face as he looked at the cat girl. 'Jilani!'

'Ianto,' she replied, ducking her head shyly.

'You… everyone told me you were dead.'

She beamed at him. 'Yes, Canitia and Harman told the others that they'd killed me, to make an example. But they wanted to interrogate me, you see, to find out where you'd gone, so they kept me alive. I didn't tell them anything, but they guessed anyway,' she explained.

Ianto turned to Jack. 'This is Jilani. She helped me escape.'

Jack nodded and went over to Jilani. 'Thank you,' he told her. 'Thank you so much. If it wasn't for you, I'd never have found him again.'

She gave a cat-blush and glanced away, her smile too big for her face.

Turning back to Ianto, so happy he felt as if a large balloon was being inflated inside him, Jack raised his eyebrows. 'So go on, then. Alive. You. How?'

'This way.' Ianto led them down the corridor to the Transport room. He keyed in the code. The door opened.

Jack looked around the room. He looked at the time travel devices. He looked at Ianto.

Ianto, watching, could almost see the cogs whirring inside his friend's head, and the light bulb light up as the realisation hit.

'Ianto! You didn't!'

'Um,' Ianto said, looking at the floor.

'You… you looked inside one of these things? You looked into the time vortex?'

'Um,' Ianto repeated, wishing he could say something more interesting.

'You made yourself…' Jack shook his head in amazement. 'You made yourself… like me?'

'Um,' Ianto said yet again. 'Yeah.'

There was a lengthy, awkward silence.

Jack's voice wasn't angry or challenging as he spoke. In fact he just sounded mildly curious. 'Why?'

Ianto dithered. He hadn't planned on Jack finding out this way. But it had been inevitable, really. He hesitated, choosing his words carefully.

'For us.' He couldn't meet Jack's burning, intense gaze. 'Remember when you told me, Jack? About your past? About the Doctor? Remember how you said that you weren't lonely anymore? Well… you are. You try not to show it, you try to hide it, but… I can see it. And I couldn't just let you live that way, Jack. On your own. Forever.'

Jack looked at him, and Ianto had the feeling that Jack as looking right inside him, seeing all his secrets with those old, old eyes, laying him bare, looking into his soul.

Eventually he stepped forwards and placed his hands on Ianto's shoulders.

'Being able to die is a gift,' he whispered. 'You gave that up… for me?'

'For both of us,' Ianto replied steadily.

Another pause. Then a slow smile spread over Jack's face. 'Ianto Jones, I bloody love you.' He raised his eyebrows. 'D'you know what?'

'What?'

Jack closed his eyes. 'Forever isn't so bad any more. Not when I can spend it with you.'

He held out his arms and Ianto relaxed into his embrace. They stood there, holding each other tightly, lost together in their own world.

_Did I do the right thing? _Ianto asked himself. He wasn't sure how to feel about himself now, knowing that he was going to live forever, never age, never die. He knew that at times it was going to be hard. But yes, he'd done the right thing. What he'd said was true. How many times had there been through his life when he'd looked at Jack and wondered how he coped, knowing that he would have to live through all eternity, through the death of his friends, the end of the world, maybe even the end of the universe… alone. But not anymore.

Jack was in a state of shock. Over the years he'd been immortal, there had been several times when he'd wanted to die. Forever. Never have to be dragged back to into life. Ianto knew that. Jack had told him so many times. And yet… for him… Ianto was willing to give up his mortality? He shook his head slightly. It showed the stark difference between people like Canitia and Harman and people like Ianto. Canitia's reason for wanting to becom immortal could not have been more selfish. Ianto's reason could not have been more selfless.

For some time they remained there in each other's embrace, before realising that they were making Jilani slightly uncomfortable. They let go and stood together, smiling fit to burst, saying nothing. There were no words needed.

Keena's voice came over the comm. 'You guys ok up there?'

'Fine,' Ianto replied.

'Better than fine,' Jack grinned.

'Jilani's alive,' Ianto added.

'She's alive?' Keena exclaimed in delight and amazement.

'And Ianto just became immortal,' Jack added.

'He _what?'_

'We'll explain later. So what's happening with you?'

Elif sounded triumphant as he replied. 'The battle is won. It's been a full-scale revolution. With the help of the prisoners, it was almost too easy. Harman is dead. So is Catra. The EEF has fallen.'

Ianto's heart swelled with joy. The evil of the EEF was no more. Maybe now, there would be peace at last.

/

Outside the EEF, Jilani, Ianto and Jack stood together under the light of a beautiful full moon.

'Are you sure you won't stay?' Jilani begged.

'We're not leaving forever,' Ianto assured her.

'I know, but… there's so much that still needs to be done here. All those people you freed need to be returned to their rightful times and places, the remaining EEF people have to be dealt with… and don't forget, we'll need your help to turn the EEF into your new Hub!'

Jack grinned at Ianto. 'I still can't believe how brilliant your idea is. A time-travelling Torchwood!'

'It's going to be amazing.' Ianto couldn't stop grinning. 'We'll remake the EEF, with you as our medic and Elif as our scientist…'

'And we'll use the time travel devices to go to anywhere we're needed, be it in the past, present or future,' Jack finished. 'All of time and space to defend, creatures to defeat, civilisations to save…'

'… And an awful lot of running to do,' Ianto laughed.

'But that's why I can't understand why you're going!' Jilani burst out. 'We need your help!'

'Jilani.' Ianto smiled at her. 'It's only going to be for a day or two. We can time travel, remember? We… we just need a bit of time alone.'

Jilani nodded; she understood. Ianto needed time to get used to his sudden immortality, and they both needed some time to recuperate from their adventures. 'But you'll be back soon, right?'

'Before you know it,' Jack promised. 'Don't think we'll be missing the launch of Torchwood Five!'

Jilani nodded again. 'So where will you go?'

'Anywhere.' Ianto shrugged.

Jack's brow creased thoughtfully. 'When I was with the Doctor, we went to a planet called Women Wept. It had this continent that was sort of twisted, so it looked like a mourning woman. There was some kind of solar eclipse, and the sea froze in a single second, in the middle of a storm. We walked under these ice waves… it's so beautiful. Wanna see it?'

Ianto nodded, smiling. 'Sounds good. Yeah. Woman Wept it is.'

Jack held out his arm and Ianto took hold of the Vortex Manipulator, ready to go. Jack tapped in the co-ordinates and turned to Jilani with a salute. She shrugged, smiled and saluted back.

'See you soon,' she said.

'Really soon,' Ianto promised her.

She raised her paw in farewell.

A burst of energy, a flash of light, and they were gone.

_It's not quite over! Final chapter will be coming as soon as possible!_


	12. Love

Epilogue- Love

Two perfectly full twin moons shone down upon the beautiful world of Woman Wept. A universe full of stars shone down upon a crystalline sea. The mighty, towering waves reared up towards the sky, frozen completely solid, all the way through. Occasionally a shard of ice would break off of one and plummet down towards the solid sea, smashing into a thousand pieces as it landed.

There was no life for miles. Not a bird flew above the waves, not a single fish stirred in the depths of the crystal ocean. There were no houses, no signs of any civilisation. It was the most wonderful place imaginable.

With a glow of energy, two men materialised on the beach. They stood still, looking around them with awe and wonder. One of them took a step forwards, down to the water's edge- or, rather, the ice's edge. He reached out his hand and ran it down the wall of ice in front of him.

'I see what you meant, Jack,' he whispered. 'This place is amazing.'

'Isn't it beautiful?' murmured the other, walking over to his companion.

'It's… it's just…' Ianto couldn't find the right words. He just shook his head.

Jack nodded. 'Been years since I came here. I'd almost forgotten how wonderful it is.'

He turned and fixed his intent blue gaze onto Ianto. 'Ianto… are you honestly OK with being… you know?'

Ianto nodded. 'Completely.'

Jack didn't quite understand how Ianto was so calm about it. The day he'd realised that he couldn't die, he'd been shaken to the core. Maybe it was easier for Ianto- he'd chosen it, after all, and had known what to expect, whereas Jack had been abruptly thrust into eternal life- but still…

'If you don't mind my asking,' Jack began, frowning slightly, 'the Doctor said that Rose would have died if he hadn't taken the time vortex out of her. How come you didn't?'

Ianto laughed. 'Think it over,' he chuckled. 'It did, well, kill me. But if I'd just used it to make myself immortal, then naturally, I came back. That was how I realised it'd worked.'

'Oh, right, yeah. That was a bit thick,' Jack grinned.

'Just a bit,' Ianto agreed.

There was a pause. 'Ianto… really, are you sure-' Jack started to say.

'Shut up,' Ianto smiled, and kissed him.

And Jack let go of his worries and concerns. Ianto was right. He'd done the right thing. After all these years, they were finally reunited- and they would never, ever be separated again. Never.

He'd been telling the truth when he'd said that forever was no longer so bad. He wasn't alone any more. Never again would have to endure the suffering that came hand in hand with being immortal by himself. He had Ianto to help him, to support him. A brother in suffering. But it wasn't all suffering, being immortal, and with Ianto by his side, the good part of it suddenly seemed much stronger than the bad. And now the whole universe was theirs! They could start again. With Torchwood soon to be rebuilt, and the two of them finally together once more, anything was possible, anything at all.

Together they stood there in the shore, locked in each other's embrace, both of them utterly and blissfully happy, and their hearts burning with love.

The End

_Again, thanks to all readers and reviewers! I loved writing this and reading your comments, it's been great to have so much positive feedback. If you have any questions about holes in the plot etc. just pm me and I'll see if I can sort them out, 'cause I might well have missed something!_

_Here comes the big question, though… should I continue this? I've been considering writing a sequel, exploring the futures of Jack, Ianto and the new Torchwood Five. It'd be great if I could have your opinions._

_Anyway, thanks for reading, I really hope you enjoyed it!_


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